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HILTON 

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Wife 



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Wife 

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January 

1895 

























Wal, ain’t he a peony — in full bloom ! ” cried Nelly. 











HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE 


AN ANGLO-EGYPTIAN ROMANCE 


BY 


r 


HILTON HILL 



New York 

HOME BOOK COMPANY 

45 Vesey Street. 



Copyrighted, 1894, 

BY 

HOME BOOK COMPANY 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

A Happy Dinner Party i 

CHAPTER II. 

We Meet Nelly Shy, of Chicago 12 

CHAPTER III. 

Elsie Astonishes Lady Brattle 29 

CHAPTER IV. 

An Unexpected Solicitor — A Painful Interview 37 

CHAPTER V. 

Nelly Interviews Sidney 42 

CHAPTER VI. 

Sir Richard Succumbs to Nelly’s Flattery 49 

CHAPTER VII. 

Sidney Becomes a Lover in Earnest 52 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Lady Brattle Objects 64 

CHAPTER IX. 

En Route for Egypt — Lord Lashburn Appears Interested 74 

CHAPTER X. 

Sidney Meets Old Friends in Cleopatra’s City 83 

CHAPTER XL 

A Reckless Adventure 104 


iv 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XII. 

PAGB 

Sidney Dines with M. Le Zaras 114 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Nelly and Lady Brattle Visit the Harem 120 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Lord Lashburn is Detained at the Villa Karava 127 

CHAPTER XV. 

Elsie Receives a Letter from her Father 144 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Zara Pasha Calls upon Sir Richard 152 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Lady Brattle Meets Le Zaras. His Egyptian Wife 160 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Le Zaras Denounces Karava Bey 175 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Happiness, but not Perfect Happiness 182 

CHAPTER XX. 

Nelly Shy Proves a Staunch Friend to Lady Brattle 188 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Karava Bey Obtains the Release of Lashburn 200 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Elsie Calls on her Father 203 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Homeward Bound 209 

CHAPTER THE LAST. 


An Ancient Game in which the Loser Wins a Questionable Prize. . 21 1 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE 


CHAPTER I. 

A HAPPY DINNER-PARTY. 

On a delightful afternoon late in May, not long after 
the year of Her Majesty’s Jubilee, two men seated in 
a first-class carriage on the five o’clock Windsor ex- 
press, were seen to be in animated conversation. 

The elder traveller, with the shiny bald head, was 
Sir Richard Brattle, Q. C., a fresh-faced, clean-shaven, 
sandy-gray haired, keen-looking little man of five-and- 
fifty. The younger was his godson, Lieutenant Sidney 
Dane, who had just returned from a long cruise in 
H. M. S. Psyche . They were on their way to the 
eminent advocate’s country mansion on the Thames, 
opposite Chertsey. 

Sir Richard regarded his companion with a look of 
pleasure ; and, in a doting, paternal tone, said : “ Well, 
well, Sidney, I’m really glad to see you back again.” 

“ You are very kind to say so, Sir Richard.” 

“ How long have you been gone ? ” 

“ Two years.” 

“Is it so long? And you have been round the 
world ? ” 


2 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Not quite, but nearly. We crossed the Equator 
twice. If we had come home by Suez, we should have 
completed the circle.” 

“ And how do you like Her Majesty’s service?” 

“Fairly well.” 

“ Which means, I suppose, that you are not in love 
with it, eh ? ” 

“Well, no, I’m not. The Navy’s an idle life ; it’s no 
place for a poor, ambitious man. There are so few 
opportunities for advancement, that when the slightest 
chance for an exploit presents itself, we all go for it as 
sharks go for a dead coolie.” 

“Yes, yes, I can quite understand that, my boy. I 
always say that our next naval battle will either be a 
dashing, brilliant victory, or a disastrous defeat, prob- 
ably the latter ; for our sea-dogs of war have been so 
long held in check, that when the time comes, their 
impetuous valour will outrun their prudence.” 

“ We don’t think so ; we’d like to try, at any rate.” 

“You all pray for war, I daresay, as regularly as the 
clergy pray for peace.” 

“We hope for it, at all events.” 

“ Well, well, Sidney, I can’t help looking at you. 
You’re so like your lamented father. It seems to me 
as if I were again chatting with my old chum of thirty 
years ago. For it’s just thirty years since your father 
and I came down from the North country together ; 
he a poor doctor, and I a briefless barrister. Ha, 
what glorious careers we had planned for ourselves ! ” 

“ And you have achieved yours, Sir Richard.” 

“Well, yes! I should be satisfied — and I am. He, 
poor chap, was just mounting the steps of fame, when 
he fell by the way. Ah, well ! one can’t help lament- 
ing sometimes. For it is a rare and gratifying privilege 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


3 


to share and enjoy the sweet success of maturity 
with the companions of our youth.” 

There was a pathetic sadness in the senior’s voice 
that caused the two men to look in opposite directions. 
Sidney’s dark blue eyes moistened at this tender re- 
minder of his beloved father. 

Lieutenant Dane was a sturdy, open-faced young 
fellow of three-and-twenty. His naturally dark skin 
was bronzed like a russet pear. He was well above 
the medium height, but his muscular frame misled one 
as to his real stature. 

After the brief silence, caused by the sympathetic 
allusion to the past, the young man said : 

“ I beg your pardon, Sir Richard, but I quite forgot 
to inquire after Lady Brattle ; I hope she is quite 
well.” 

“Yes, thank you ; at least, she was so the last time 
I heard from her. She’s away from home at present, 
on a short visit to Lady August.” 

“ Oh, then we shall be quite alone ? ” observed 
Sidney. 

“ Oh, no, my niece is at home.” 

“ Your niece ? I didn’t know you had a niece.” 

“ My wife’s niece, Elsie Lisle. She was at school in 
Switzerland when you visited us three years ago.” 

“ Oh, yes. I remember now Lady Brattle showing 
me her photograph. A plump, round-cheeked little 
school-girl.” 

“ She’s improved on that form now. But here we 
are at Staines,” cried Sir Richard, as the train dashed 
into the station ; “ you shall soon judge for yourself, 
for she drives over for me in the phaeton every night, 
rain or shine. She’s a Viking to face the weather.” 

When they got out of the station, there were about 


4 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


a dozen family vehicles, — the smart coupe of the great 
brewer, the open victoria and pair of the stock- 
broker, the showy trap of the turf commission agent, 
and the modest pony phaeton of the Q. C., — all drawn 
up by the roadside to meet the home-coming City men 
who lived in the neighbourhood. 

There was a general bowing to and greeting of the 
famous Q. C., as he and Sidney made their way among 
the throng. 

“ There she is, Sidney. She doesn’t see us, though, 
for young Tom Pleet is talking to her,” said Sir Richard, 
indicating a fair young woman, by a nod of his head. 
“ Pleet’s a bit mashed, as you youngsters say, I fancy.” 

As they approached the phaeton, the girl turned and 
recognized them. 

“ Oh, Uncle Dick,” she cried, “ I thought you had 
missed your train.” 

“No. We stopped a moment to order Sidney’s 
trap to be sent over.” Then he introduced the young 
couple. 

“This is Sidney Dane, Elsie, and this Fraulein Elsie 
Lisle, Sidney ” 

“ Now, Uncle, please don’t call me Fraulein,” said 
the girl, with a charmingly petulant protest. “ It’s all 
well enough among ourselves, but ” 

“Well, pet, it is among ourselves, for Sidney I 
almost look upon as my own lad. Now drive on, my 
pretty whip, for to-day I shall relish my dinner.” 

The young people had murmured the usual compli- 
mentary words of greeting, and Sidney had been seated 
beside the fair creature who held the reins, her uncle 
facing them. 

Sidney wondered if this could possibly be the 
awkward, chubby-faced girl, whose photo he had seen 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


5 

three years before. Elsie Lisle, while not altogether a 
beauty, was now a plump, but still shapely, charming, 
light-haired girl of nineteen. Her hair was not exactly 
the fashionable blonde, between straw and amber ; its 
crinkly strands gleamed golden in the sunlight. Her 
eyes were light-hazel, round as a fawn’s, and her 
complexion was fresh and healthy, even to her neck 
and throat, which were somewhat tanned, but her 
cheeks were tinted as a pippin is tinted by wholesome 
exposure to sun and air. She was not above the 
medium stature, Sidney thought, as he regarded her, 
and her hands were not very small, but her nose took 
his fancy, for it was almost a perfect Grecian. 

She managed the spirited little pony with such 
dextrous ease, that, Sidney after some general remarks, 
ventured to say : 

“ You’re fond of driving, I should judge, Miss 
Lisle.” 

“ Oh, yes, I like all outdoor sports. And it’s great 
fun to drive Ginger ; he fancies himself so much that he 
thinks he should distance every nag on the road. He’s 
a bundle of conceit. If his legs were only equal to his 
vanity, he’d be a priceless pony — but they’re not.” 

“ You handle him with the skill and ease of an ex- 
perienced whip,” observed Sidney. 

“ Oh, we know each other, Ginger and I.” 

“ But does he never attempt to bolt with you ? *’ 

“ He tried it once, but he knows better than to at- 
tempt it again.” 

“ She nearly broke his jaw,” broke in Sir Richard. 
“ She’s got arms as sinewy as a blacksmith’s.” 

“ Well, Uncle, I ought to have ; I had gymnastic train- 
ing enough at school.” 

“ She rows, and punts, and swims, and plays tennis 


6 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


— and thinks she can play cricket — but she can’t,” added 
her uncle with a good-humoured laugh. 

“ I don’t profess to — only with you. It’s not a ladies’ 
game.” 

This two-mile drive, over one of the best roads, in 
one of the most charming valleys in the world, with 
its dark-green, neatly-trimmed private hedges, its wavy 
grass meadows, spotted with blue and white and yel- 
low flowers, its vistas of quaint old manors and modern, 
ornate villas, its glimpses of the placid Thames with its 
perpetual green banks, with reeds and brook-willows 
gracefully nodding to the summer breeze ; all this was 
like a vision of paradise to the young sailor who had 
been confined to a “ cruiser ” for two years. Sidney 
sniffed the fragrant air with a long-drawn breath, and 
exclaimed : “ How sweet and fresh the air is this 
evening ! ” 

“ Yes,” answered Elsie; “there was a shower this 
morning, then the sun came out with great force, which, 
I notice, always makes the air deliciously fragrant.” 

“ Ha ! ” exclaimed Sidney, with the fervour of grati- 
fication, “ there is nothing in the world like it, after 
all.” 

“ I’m glad to hear you say so, my boy ; you like 
your own country best, with all its fogs and other 
faults.” 

“Yes, decidedly. I wish I could always remain in 
it.” 

“ Why can’t you ? ” asked Elsie, turning her warm 
brown eyes upon him. 

The young fellow hesitated, so her uncle answered : 
“ Because he’s subject to the whims of the Admiralty, 
my dear.” 

They now turned off the river road, and up a com- 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


7 


paratively short avenue of fine old chestnuts, elms and 
copper-beeches. Oxley House, Sir Richard’s country 
seat, was by no means a large place. It was of the Eliz- 
abethan style of architecture, built by a rich Anglo- 
Indian nabob in the early part of the last century ; the 
sixteen rooms were large and lofty, with dark oak 
panels, and beautifully frescoed. The estate comprised 
ten acres, studded, here and there, with fine old firs 
and cypress trees, rare shrubs, palms, and costly pic- 
turesque plants, and clumps of holly, trimmed into all 
sorts of odd cones, pyramids and domes ; here and 
there were sturdy standard rose-bushes, with trunks as 
thick as a man’s wrist, laden with the first buds and 
blooms of early summer. 

The close-cut green velvet lawns sloped to the river, 
and on the bank was a modern boat-house, built in im- 
itation of a Swiss chalet ; while, near by, in marked 
contrast, was a miniature Roman temple of stone, 
partly covered with ivy and other creeping vines, which 
served as a summer-house. 

It was an ideal little home, with such natural beau- 
ties as only patience, time and wealth can produce. 
As they drove up to the ivy-covered portal of the 
house, a groom took charge of Ginger, and a portly, 
middle-aged butler held the door open for them to 
enter. As Sidney was going up the staircase to be 
shown to his room, his host called cheerily to him : 

“ Don’t dress for dinner, my boy ! I never do, ex- 
cept when Lady Brattle has some of her literary set 
here. I detest all ceremony, you know, that detracts 
from my comfort.” 

This was characteristic of the little man. There was 
a genial bonhomie , an effervescent gaiety, a perpetual 
jesting spirit about “ Dick Brattle” with his intimates 


8 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


when away from business that made him universally 
liked. 

When they sat down to dinner, Sidney noticed that 
Sir Richard had exchanged his black business coat for 
an old, easy-fitting, blue serge jacket. Elsie had put 
on a pale-blue muslin blouse ; through its gauzy sleeves 
he saw the outlines of her shapely arms ; the lace collar 
was low and rolling, revealing to advantage the perfect 
contour of her neck and throat. Her complexion, it 
seemed to Sidney, had softened, now that she was in- 
doors, and her eyes looked deeper, rounder, and more 
fawn-like, perhaps in association with the pale-blue 
garment. 

Elsie sat in her aunt’s place, directing the meal with 
the gentle dignity, ease and grace, of an experienced 
matron. 

“ Now, then, Fraulein,” said the host, smacking his 
lips, as they took their seats, “ what have you pro- 
vided ? ” 

“ Oh, nothing very elaborate, the usual five,” replied 
Elsie. “ Why, are you hungry ? ” 

“Yes, I am. I believe Sidney has brought back my 
youth, and, with it, a youthful appetite.” 

“ Ah, Uncle, your youth doesn’t need much bringing 
back, it’s almost perpetual. When you are eighty, I 
believe you’ll still want to play leap-frog and cricket.” 

“ I hope so, my dear, I hope so. Sidney, claret or 
burgundy ? ” 

“ Claret, Sir Richard, please.” 

“ Mottle,” to the butler, “ fill Mr. Dane’s glass. I 
prefer burgundy myself. It puts me in that cosy, com- 
fortable, soporific condition, which leads to half an 
hour’s oblivion after dinner. When I recover, I’m as 
fresh as a lark until midnight.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


9 


What a delightful dinner it was to the young fellow, 
who mentally compared it with that which he was accus- 
tomed to in the cramped, stuffy mess-room of the Psyche. 
The casements were open, and a light, balmy breeze 
drifted into the room, laden with the delicious fra- 
grance of blooming roses. 

Sidney was thoughtful and silent, for his eyes and 
mind were constantly recurring to the radiant girl near 
him, so much so indeed, that between every course Sir 
Richard started a new subject of conversation, for he 
noticed the formal constraint between them, and did 
his best to dispel it. 

“Well, Fraulein, what did Tom Pleet have to say? 
I saw him talking to you.” 

“ Oh, he wished me to join him at tennis after din- 
ner. Flossie and her fiance want to play us ; but I 
told him it was out of the question.” 

“ Oh, you could take Sidney over — the Pleets are 
neighbours of ours — he explained to Sidney. It would 
amuse you to see them playing together, for Tom’s 
knock-kneed and Elsie’s left handed.” 

“ Now, Uncle Dick, I wish you wouldn’t be quite so 
personal. It’s cruel of you. I’m sure, Tom can’t help 
it ” 

“ Nor you, my dear. Do you play, Sidney ?” 

“Very badly. I’ve never had much practice, you 
know.” 

“ Then don’t play with Elsie, for she’s a demon with 
that left arm of hers.” 

“ If Miss Lisle will tolerate me, I should like to be 
her victim.” 

“ Ah, I daresay you’re only depreciating your ability, 
for my future discomfiture,” she said, smilingly. 


10 


ms EGYPTIAN- WIFE. 


“ Oh, no, I assure you, I was always too studious to 
acquire any ability at the game.” 

After dinner the young people left Sir Richard to 
his cigar, and Elsie led the way to the tennis-court. 
The girl won three sets to nil , before the fading twi- 
light gave place to the silvery rays of the moon, and 
Sidney was thinking what a duffer she must consider 
him for having said that he could play at all. 

Just as they were finishing the last set, Tom Pleet, 
a flabby, pale-faced, long, dark-haired young man of 
twenty-five, joined them. Elsie introduced the young 
men, and they all three strolled down to the river bank, 
and there sat chatting in the moonlight (Pleet often 
wishing Sidney in Timbuctoo), until Sir Richard joined 
them. Then they went back to the house and played 
whist until close upon midnight. 

When Elsie had retired for the night, and the two men 
were alone, smoking a last cigar, Sidney asked : 

“ Who is Tom Pleet, Sir Richard ? ” 

“ His father’s the head of the great limited brewery, 
‘ Pleet, Birkins and Co.’ Tom’s a literary genius.” 

“ By Jove ! I thought so, by his style,” cried Sidney. 
“ His long, oily hair, his low, rolling shirt-collar, his 
round, dreamy, ogling eyes, and his fondness for 
metaphorical phrases would mark him out for a 
poet.” 

“Yes, he’s a popular poet.” 

“ Popular? I never heard of him.” 

“ Popular with his relations,” said the old gentlemen 
drily. 

“Ha! How so?” 

“ Well, every year, he publishes by subscription, 
chiefly his mother’s and his own, a volume of verse and 
margin — well, it’s principally margin.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


II 


“ Ha, ha ! I see what you mean. He’s a poet at his 
own expense.” 

“And at the expense of those who read him. He’s 
a modest young fellow ; he classes himself only with 
Keats.” 

“ He is very confidential with Els — with your niece.” 
The young fellow checked himself, as he was about to 
say Elsie ; but the break did not escape his alert host. 

“ Yes,” the Q. C. replied, “ poets, parsons, and police- 
men, I notice, are natural magnets for the various grades 
of feminine intellect.” 

Sidney smiled at the sarcasm, and when they finished 
their cigars, they went reluctantly to rest. 

That night, as Sidney lay in bed, musing over the 
agreeable events of the day, his mind dwelt on Tom 
Fleet with positive aversion. 

“ But, why should I dislike him ? ” he asked himself. 
“ He treated me well enough, though with an air of supe- 
riority. How familiar he was with Elsie — how he held 
her hand when he said good-night. I wonder if he has 
a right to ? ” Then he gradually drifted into a happy 
dream, wherein a fair girl, in a blue, gauzy blouse, with 
tender, light-brown eyes, a finely chiselled Grecian nose, 
and a delicate patrician point to it, was the central 
figure. 


12 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER II. 

WE MEET NELLY SHY, OF CHICAGO. 

On Monday morning, at breakfast, Sir Richard and 
Elsie both got letters from Lady Brattle, saying she 
would return home that day, and bring with her an 
American lady of distinction, whom she had met whilst 
visiting Lady August. 

Sir Richard and Sidney went to town together, as 
the young man had some business matters to attend 
to; and the Q. C. had to finish his closing speech for the 
plaintiff, in the divorce case of Ganty versus Ganty and 
Schonerstein.” 

“ How long will your business detain you, Sidney? ” 
asked Sir Richard, when seated in the train. 

“ I can’t say exactly. In fact, I was about to ask 
your advice on the matter, Sir Richard,” said the young 
fellow, with some hesitation. 

“ It is at your service, my boy. Proceed.” 

“Well,” began Sidney, “Tuttle, our chief gunner 
and I have invented an electrical appliance for marine 
guns, that we believe will be invaluable to the Navy. If 
we patent it while in the service, the Admiralty will 
claim it, and remunerate us according to their own more 
or less liberal views.” 

“ I see. I see. Whose idea is it ? ” 

“ Originally mine, but Tuttle, being a practical man, 
helped me to develop it. We have now perfected the 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


13 

invention, and Tuttle intends to resign from the ser- 
vice and take out the patent.” 

“ In his name, or jointly ? ” 

“ If jointly, the Government may still claim my inter- 
est, you see.” 

“ Of course. Of course. Well?” 

“ So I — I — wished to ask you, sir, if you will act as — • 
as a sort of trustee, for my half of the invention.” 

“ That is, allow you to assign your share to me.” 

“ Without liability. For we have ample funds to 
patent it, and Tuttle will attend to the business after- 
wards.” 

“ Certainly, my lad. I’m glad to be able to assist 
and encourage you.” 

“ Oh, thank you, Sir Richard. I hesitated to ask 
you, because I know you are a very busy man ; but I 
know of no one else I could trust.” 

“ Will this invention be of much value ? ” 

“If the Admiralty accept it, it will make us both very 
rich men.” 

“ I’m pleased to find you so ambitious, Sidney. I’ll 
do all I can to help you.” 

The young fellow again thanked him, and went about 
his business that day with a light heart. 

In the evening, when Sir Richard and his prot£g£ 
returned from the city, they found that Lady Brattle and 
her American guest had already arrived. 

Sidney was kindly welcomed by Lady Brattle, then 
he and Sir Richard were introduced to the famous 
Nelly Shy, of Chicago. 

“ Glad to know you, Sir Richard,” said Miss Shy, 
briskly, “and you, Mr.' Dane,” shaking them both cor- 
dially by the hand. “ Great speech of yours, Sir 
Richard, in the Ganty divorce case — read it in the 


u 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


Globe coming out — how you did go for that Jezebel, 
Schonerstein — eh ? ” 

“ Miss Shy,” broke in Lady Brattle, “ my husband 
dislikes to mention his law cases at home.” 

“ Oh ! Too modest, I suppose. Wal, I find all smart 
men are modest.” 

“ It’s not exactly modesty, Miss Shy,” said Sir 
Richard, smiling, “ but from the same feeling that a 
hospital surgeon does not care to discuss the hideous 
operations of the dissecting-room in his family circle.” 

“ I git on to the idea, the divorce court is your dissect- 
ing-room. I hope you’ll excuse my Chicago density.” 

“ Oh, don’t say that,” replied the Q. C. courteously, 
“ for I understand Chicago leads the world in alert- 
ness and commercial enterprise.” 

“ We come pretty nigh feeding it, at any rate,” re- 
plied Miss Shy, as she accepted Sir Richard’s arm to 
the dining-room. 

Elsie regarded Nelly Shy with some curiosity, for 
she was a tall, lithe, vivacious woman of perhaps thirty ; 
her large bright eyes were black and glossy as jet, while 
her dull raven hair had a rebellious tendency to kink- 
ling and curling in an ungovernable, fluffy mass. She 
had a light, warm creole complexion, almost of a 
copper hue, when excitement brought the hot Southern 
blood to her cheeks ; for her mother was a Quadroon, 
and her father (Colonel Shy, of New Orleans,), sacrificed 
his life in the Confederate cause. There was, in Nelly’s 
manner, a self-reliant, off-hand assurance, which at first 
blush seemed to many unwomanly ; but her jocular, 
fraternising habit of ignoring chilling rebuffs and 
social distinctions, her quaint accent and odd mingling 
of trenchant, picturesque English with Western idioms, 
in her shrewd observations, amused her listeners ; while 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


T S 

her imperturbable good nature ultimately compelled 
them to regard her with favour, and accept her for what 
she was — a pushing, energetic American lady jour- 
nalist. 

“ Miss Shy is going round the world,” observed Lady 
Brattle to her husband, at the end of the first course. 

“ Ah, indeed. For pleasure, Miss Shy? ” 

“ No. For ‘ The Ladies Journal] of Chicago.” 

“ She is writing a series of illustrated articles, on 
‘ Women of the World,’ Richard.” Lady Brattle al- 
ways called her husband “ Richard ” in company, and 
“ Dick ” in private. 

“ Oh ! You must have found many unique and spicy 
varieties in London.” 

“Yes. I’ve seen some fast trotters, in single and 
double harness there. But it’s the domesticated, home- 
loving variety I’m after.” 

“ Isn’t it curious, Richard, that Miss Shy should be 
engaged writing of one class, and I making a book 
on the other ? ” 

“ It is an odd coincidence. I should imagine you to 
be of much assistance to each other.” 

“ We have already discovered that,” said the Ameri- 
can. “ From what I had read and heard of the doings 
and sayings of English society women, before leaving 
the West, I came to the conclusion they must be 
chiefly the progeny of broken-down turf sports, united 
to ex-music-hall artists. But, thanks to Lady August 
and Lady Brattle, I have been introduced to English 
homes, where the golden flower of womanhood blooms 
in all its purity, and where the nauseous, flaunting, 
flimsy, weak-stemmed poppy of turfy, music-hall 
society is unknown, or justly ignored.” 

“ And I,” observed her hostess, “ have learned that 


i6 


HIS EG YET/A H WIFE. 


the middle-class, well-bred American women are thor- 
oughly proficient in housekeeping, and vie with each 
other in inventing delicacies for the table, beautifying 
their homes, and encouraging the social and domestic 
virtues. And their girls, while given a greater liberty 
than ours, are not all the capricious, title-worshipping 
dolls, or tyrannical wives, the superficial novelist would 
lead us to believe.” 

“ Quite a mutual and satisfactory discovery,” said the 
host. “ What did you think of the American girls, 
Sidney?” 

“We only touched at Frisco. I had little oppor- 
tunity of judging.” 

“ I guess you’re not a ladies’-man,” observed Miss 
Shy, flashing her dark eyes upon the young lieutenant. 

“ Well, no, I don’t think I am,” replied the young 
fellow, flushing. 

“ I hope you’re not,” said Lady Brattle severely, 
“ for the so-called ‘ladies’-man’ is no judge of woman. 
He is too selfish ; he can see only the frivolous side of 
her nature, and cares nothing for the true nobility of 
womanhood.” 

“ Then, I certainly am not,” rejoined Sidney. “ For 
if there is one characteristic I admire in a woman, it is 
sedate, domestic contentment.” 

Lady Brattle was gratified at this expression, for she 
was one of those rigidly virtuous women who mistrust 
the morals of all men. She was a handsome, portly 
woman of fifty, with a light, warm complexion, and 
beautiful silvery blonde hair, which, in younger days, 
had been a delicate amber. Her eyes were blue and 
penetrating ; and there was in her manner a stately ex- 
pression of power and authority, which caused the young 
lieutenant to respect her, though he never felt the 


Ills EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


1 7 

same feeling of attachment for her that he did for her 
husband, Sir Richard. 

It may be as well to acquaint the reader at once with 
Lady Brattle’s early history. She was the fifth and oldest 
daughter of Sir Rodric Bevis, who for many years held 
a high government position in India. There “ Betsy” 
Bevis was brought up, and, at the desperate age of 
thirty, while in a fit of pique at a recreant lover, accepted, 
and married in hot haste, Commander Victor Le Zaras, 
of the French Navy, a man about ten years her senior. 
Some five years after the birth of their only child, M. 
Le Zaras resigned his position under the Tri-colour, 
took service with a Burmese prince, and became the 
Commodore of the prince’s naval flotilla. Leaving his 
wife in India with her sister (Mrs. Colonel Lisle), the 
newly-made Commodore rapidly grew rich under the 
lax Burmese administration. He visited his family 
from time to time, during the first few years of his new 
career, but refused to take them abroad with him, be- 
cause, as he said, his station in Burmah was a most un- 
healthy one. Ultimately, the licentious scamp, for 
this he was, threw off the mask, and wrote to his wife 
that he had adopted the Burmese religion and set up 
an establishment in accordance with the custom of the 
country. He, however, offered to provide a separate 
home for his wife and her child, if they would come to 
him. This his spirited wife scornfully refused, and at 
once applied for a divorce. Finally, the cruelly-treated 
lady returned to her father in England, and after some 
difficulty a divorce was obtained. 

Richard Brattle, Q. C., her present husband, had 
been her leading counsel, and seeing much of the 
still handsome woman, he became fascinated by her, 
so that, soon after the decree had been made abso- 
2 


i8 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


lute, “ Dick Brattle,” as his intimates called him, suc- 
cumbed to the charms of his fair client, and Madame 
Le Zaras became Mrs. Brattle. A year or two later, 
through the prestige of his wife’s friends, among whom 
were some influential political relations, and his own 
great ability, he was made a baronet. 

As a bachelor, Dick Brattle had spent a life of rest- 
less gaiety. Without being heartless or cruel, he had 
become satiated with the attentions of, and his own 
gallantry towards, ladies of easy virtue, so that, now that 
he had found his ideal of a woman, he was quite ready 
for a life of connubial repose — as frequently happens to 
gay bachelors. Their ten years of married life had been 
all that could be desired ; for there was a deep and gen- 
uine attachment between them. Lady Brattle’s fre- 
quent outbursts of irritability were dissolved like vapour 
in the sun of her husband’s genial good-humour. Her 
very proneness to fits of ill-temper charmed the man 
who had encountered but few thorns in the rosy paths 
of love he had heretofore traversed. 

It rained that night, so the guests were entertained 
indoors. But the next evening, after dinner, Lady 
Brattle and Miss Shy sat chatting together, watching 
the young people at tennis, for Tom Pleet and his sis- 
ter had come over for their usual game, and were play- 
ing against Sidney and Elsie. 

“ I admire your niece immensely,” said Miss Shy, 
impulsively to her hostess, as the game proceeded. 
“ What a charming, dashing girl she is ! How her eyes 
glow with the zest of the game. She hasn’t been pre- 
sented yet, I suppose?” 

“No, I don’t intend her to be,” replied Lady 
Brattle. 

“ No ! Why ? ” 


HIS EG YET/A AT WIFE . 


*9 

“ I think it all a mistake, in the present condition of 
society.” 

“ I guess you’re about right,” was Miss Shy’s char- 
acteristic rejoinder. 

“ She’s perfectly contented as she is. We take her 
occasionally to the galleries, operas, concerts, theatres, 
and small social functions in the neighbourhood here, 
that is all.” 

“ Has she no admirers — no attachment? ” 

“ No, I’m glad to say.” 

“ I fancied — wal, I guess, it was only a false notion 
I’d got.” 

“ What was the notion ? Pray don’t hesitate to tell 
me, Miss Shy.” 

“ Wal, I fancied that greasy-haired poet, from his 
manner when he greeted her this evening, acted some- 
thing like a man with a straight flush in a game of 
poker.” 

“ How do you mean ? ” 

“ Wal, he had a little too much confidence, as if he 
had a ‘ cinch on her.’ ” 

“ Oh, I assure you, there’s nothing in it. I don’t 
think she cares for him.” 

“ How long have they known each other ? ” 

“ Since she returned from Switzerland. About a 
year ago.” 

“ Wal, I wouldn’t let them browse about too much 
alone — if you don’t fancy him. For there’s nothing so 
dangerous to an innocent girl as a sentimental ass ; her 
sympathies are won before she knows it — before she’s 
learned to use her reasoning faculties.” 

“ Ha, ha ! There is some truth in that, but I have no 
fear in Elsie’s case.” 

“ We can never tell, my dear Lady Brattle. Now, 


20 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


when I was a girl, I detested sailors, but I married 
one ” 

“Dear me!” exclaimed Lady Brattle, “are you a 
widow, Miss Shy? ” 

“ I am. Twice a widow. Once divorced by the laws 
of Illinois, and then by the death of my lamented 
scapegrace, Charley. Poor old Charley ! ” 

Lady Brattle thought of her own case, but only asked, 
“ Were you twice married, Miss Shy ? ” 

“ Oh, no. Divorced for five years, then he died. I 
went into mourning because I really doted on him — 
and black was rather becoming to me,” was the compla- 
cent rejoinder. 

“ What was he ? ” 

“ A Mississippi pilot. He was a handsome man, but 
the most sentimental, plausible liar on the river. He 
quoted poetry with the convincing pathos of a parson, 
and yet gambled like a prince. Poetry was his hobby, 
and gambling and flirting were his vices. I was only 
twenty when I met him one moonlight night coming 
down from Memphis. I thought I had some back- 
bone, but, before we got to New Orleans, he had so 
charmed me with his lofty, high-falutin sentiments, 
we were engaged — and married within a week.” 

“ Within a week ! ” exclaimed her ladyship, surprised. 
“ Why did you divorce him ? ” 

“ Why ! Because he’d no more constancy than a jack- 
rabbit. Every pretty girl he met created a new passion 
in him — which he generally quenched according to 
the notions of Solomon. I was a fool, I know ; but I 
couldn’t stand it, then ; I loved too ardently, too self- 
ishly. It’s a great pity mother Eve didn’t endow us 
with some of her patient philosophy, for she must have 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


21 


had a high old time of it with Adam browsing about 
Eden, sighing and seeking for the unattainable.” 

“Ah, that’s good ! ” laughed Lady Brattle. “ Yes, I 
think we might accept the vagaries of men with more 
fortitude than we do.” 

“ The sooner we do the better. Instead of retaliating 
and aping their foibles, which are somewhat instinct- 
ive to them, and innately odious to us, we might as 
well submit with the grace of the Roman matrons, who 
had far more provocation than we have.” 

“ I quite agree with you, Miss Shy.” 

The evening was calm, still and peaceful, and the air 
delicious with a humid fragrance ; the two ladies, sitting 
in comfortable wicker chairs, paused in their conversa- 
tion, and turned their attention for a moment to the 
young people, who had finished playing and were com- 
ing towards them. 

Lady Brattle surveyed her dashing guest with a look 
of admiration and then presently asked : 

“ Have you never thought of marriage again, Miss 
Shy ? ” 

“ Thought of it ? Why, I’ve worried over it ! I’ve 
hankered after it like a president after a third term. 
Show me the widow with a heart that doesn’t.” 

“ You must have had offers,” said the hostess, 
conveying a compliment in her tone and admiring 
glance. 

“ More’n you could shake a stick at. The great won- 
der to me is how I’ve shook them all. But from the 
time I took up journalism I made up my mind to go 
it alone, and have ever since heroically smothered sen- 
timent — except with my own sex.” 

“ I admire your strength of character,” said the elder 
lady, with warm approval. 


22 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Thank you ; but it’s sometimes been nip-and-tuck 
between reason and sentiment, I can tell you ! ” 

Lady Brattle smiled at this blunt confession, and, as 
the others came up, they all strolled towards the river- 
bank ; there they sat and chatted in the Roman temple, 
and watched the belated boats drifting like phantoms 
in the hazy gloaming. As they walked towards the 
river, Sidney had just found time to utter a few words 
of admiration at Elsie’s playing, for they had defeated 
Tom and his sister Flossie. 

“ I believe you could have beaten them without me ? ” 
he said. 

“ Oh, no, I won’t let you disparage your playing like 
that,” Elsie replied. 

“ I felt in that game like the craven Dahomeans, who 
let their women fight their battles for them.” 

“ Do they really compel them to fight ? ” she asked, 
somewhat incredulously. 

“The women compel the men to stay at home.” 

“ What queer creatures they must be. Did you see 
any of them ? Are they fine-looking ? ” 

“ I suppose they are, when one gets used to them — I 
didn’t.” 

“ What sort of uniform do they wear ? ” She asked 
this with all innocence, but it confused Sidney. 

“ Oh, it’s — it’s an airy costume, not very expensive 
— a — a ! Well, something like the Scots’ Guards — but 
not so — so elaborate.” 

“ Oh, it’s a warm country, isn’t it, so they have to 
dress accordingly ? ” 

Sidney assented, and was glad to drop the subject 
there, for, though a sailor, he was innately refined, and 
shrank from bringing a blush to an innocent cheek by 
relating what he had seen and heard of the women of 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE , , 


23 


Dahomey. Dane naturally was modest, gentle-man- 
nered and reserved ; he was, moreover, so free from 
self-assertion that people often mistook his modesty 
for dull reticence. 

This very characteristic now prevented him from ex- 
pressing, in adequate complimentary phrases, his ad- 
miration for the bewitching girl by his side. He feared 
to seem unduly intrusive or presumptuous, he did not 
know which, in his frame of mind, for that brief hour 
of playing with her had somewhat bewildered him. 
For the sway and grace of her moving form, the swirl 
of light drapery about her plump, round limbs, with 
now and then a peep of her perfectly arched instep and 
dainty ankle — as she stood poised a moment to inter- 
cept a desperate shot — the rich mantling colour in her 
cheeks, as her breath came faster and faster, and her 
beautifully formed nostrils quivering, her breast heav- 
ing, and her eyes glowing and flashing with her zest in 
the game ; all this charmed Sidney more and more, 
and intensified his sweet delirium. Then he sadly 
recalled Tom Pleet’s confidential manner towards her 
again that evening, something in it a little more tender, a 
little more affectionate than a friendly greeting, which 
she accepted complacently ; and he dreaded that he was 
nursing a vain desire. 

Then hope sprang up again, as he remembered how 
her eyes had once or twice encountered his, with a 
maidenly, surprised look, and then were timidly cast 
down for an instant, as if she read in his gaze his un- 
maskable admiration. 

Sir Richard had now joined the group in the summer- 
house, and Sidney had been conversing some time with 
Flossie Pleet, a frail, insipid brunette, when he sud- 


24 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


denly discovered that Elsie and the poet had rambled 
off along the river by themselves. 

This set him to speculating once more on their rela- 
tions. Nelly Shy seemed to make the discovery about 
the same time, for, glancing at Sidney, she gaily cried : 

“ I wonder if there’s a British tar anywhere about 
who wouldn’t object to taking a restless female in tow, 
for I’m just dying for a walk.” 

“ I’m at your service,” answered Sidney, catching her 
spirit of frivolity. 

“ There, you see ! ” cried the American to Lady Brat- 
tle, “ there’s nothing like advertising your wants. 
Why ! I’ve been hankering after a British tar all my 
life, and nothing but my Chicago modesty has de- 
prived me of the distraction.” 

Lady Brattle made some appropriate rejoinder, and 
the pair strolled off together. 

“ You mustn’t mind my nonsense, Mr. Dane,” said 
Nelly, with a gentle pressure of his arm, which would 
have sent a thrill of rapture through many an older 
man. “ I’ve taken a fancy to you. I like your open 
frank face. You’re not foolishly impressionable — you 
are confessedly a woman-hater ” 

“ Oh, no, I’m not, Miss Shy. I can heartily return 
the compliment. I like you, and admire your western 
independence.” 

“ Then, we’ll shake on that,” she said, grasping his 
hand. “ Now,” she continued, “ don’t think me inquisi- 
tive, but I’ve just a leetle curiosity to know how far 
that poetical ass, Pleet, has got into Elsie’s affections.” 

“ Do you think him an ass ? ” enquired her com- 
panion with surprise. 

“ The most insipid donkey since Balaam’s. Why, 
the rubbish he’s written ! — Elsie showed me his volumes 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


25 

yesterday — it’s enough to create an Act of Congress 
for the suppression of poetry ! Elsie thinks it’s divine. 
It’s twaddle ! ” 

“ Does she ? ” asked Sidney. “ I should have thought 
better of her judgment.” 

“ So should I ; but every woman has a streak of 
weakness somewhere in her composition. I’m no ex- 
ception.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the young fellow. “Your 
weakness is not very obvious, Miss Shy.” 

“ Thank you, but I’ve got it just the same.” 

Elsie and Pleet were a hundred yards ahead of them, 
their figures just discernible in the faint rays of the 
moon. 

“There they are,” observed Nelly. “ Now I never 
bet, but I’ll give you a box of cigars if he isn’t talking 
love. She hasn’t taken his arm, you see, but his arm 
is cushioned affectionately at the back of hers. He is 
looking at her, her eyes are turned away, perhaps 
dreamily averted. How they amble along. He kicks a 
stone now and then reflectively.” 

Sidney assented with a forced laugh. But his com- 
panion little dreamed how intensely interested he was 
in all these symptoms, and how he strove to suppress 
the first feeling of jealousy that had ever possessed 
him. What were they talking about ? he asked him- 
self. 

“ I think him awfully dull,” Tom Pleet was saying 
to Elsie. “ I don’t know why seamen should presume 
to call landsmen lubbers, for certainly there is no more 
lubberly fellow than a sailor ashore attempting tennis.” 

“Oh, I don’t agree with that, Tom,” said the girl. 
“ I think Mr. Dane far from ungainly.” 

“You can’t call him graceful or handsome, Elsie.” 


26 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“Well, no; but he is — he is — well, manly.” 

“ Say masterful— that’s just his characteristic. All 
these young lieutenants emulate the dogmatism of their 
superiors.” 

“ Oh, no, he does not, Tom, he is gentleness itself, 
I’m sure.” 

“ Ha, ha ! It’s amusing what romantic fancies you 
girls get of sailors,” he laughed, patronisingly. 

“You mustn’t say that of me, Tom ; I’ve no roman- 
tic fancies about sailors, at any rate.” 

“ Pardon me, Elsie, but I fear you have.” 

“Why, Tom! How can you say that ?” asked the 
maiden with gentle asperity. 

“ Haven’t you praised him, haven’t you ” 

“ Only when you— you disparaged him, called him 
dull,” she broke in warmly. 

“ Well, he is dull. In the vulgar parlance, he’s a 
duffer.” 

“ Let us turn back, Tom,” said the girl firmly. 
“You’re not in a kindly mood to-night.” 

“ No, let us go on a little farther, Elsie,” Tom 
pleaded with a tender pressure on her arm, for she had 
stopped. “ I — I wish to — to tell you, Elsie, I can’t 
bear to share your friendship with — with this fellow.” 

“ No,” she said coldly, “ I prefer to return ; ” and 
she turned about. 

At this juncture, Nelly and Sidney came within 
speaking distance, and the American called out: “ Say ! 
Elsie ! would you mind exchanging gallants with me ? 
This brazen sailor has quite abashed me with his flat- 
tery. If you could only see it now, my face is covered 
with blushes.” She had told Sidney before they came 
up what she was about to do, so that he was quite pre- 
pared for this whimsical speech. 


MS EGYPTIAN WIPE. 


27 

“ Oh, come, Miss Shy,” Sidney rejoined in the same 
bantering tone, “ you shouldn’t give me away like 
that. It isn’t every day a fellow has the pleasure of 
talking to such a charming American.” 

“ There you hear, Elsie ! ” she cried. “ Mr. Pleet, I 
must beg the protection of your arm. I’m sure I shall 
be safe with you.” 

Thereupon, Nelly took Pleet’s arm, and, as they 
walked on, continued in a confidential undertone: 

“ I had no idea of the audacity of the British tar ! 
Why ! would you believe it, he actually pressed my 
hand, said my gait was that of a princess, and my foot 
the daintiest he had ever seen. All within — ten 
minutes.” 

This absurd fiction increased the poet’s jealousy, 
for Elsie and Sidney were now ambling on behind 
them. 

“ I never knew a sailor yet,” said Pleet contemptu- 
ously, “with any sense of delicacy. They’re all either 
cads or profligates.” 

“ Oh, I don’t know about cads, but they can gen- 
erally keep up their end of a flirtation,” replied 
Nelly. 

The conversation between Elsie and her companion 
was far from being animated. The girl could not 
immediately forget Pleet’s passionate outburst ; for, 
though she had innocently drifted into a familiar, sis- 
terly friendship with him, she had never dreamed of it 
leading to anything deeper. Now it stunned and an- 
noyed her to make the discovery ; so that she replied 
to Sidney’s remarks in abstracted monosyllables, which 
discouraged him very much, for he naturally concluded 
he had been a party to interrupting a pair of lovers, and 
he despised himself accordingly. If he had known, how- 


28 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


ever, how his voice moved her, how the love-flame in 
his dark blue eyes had thrilled her fresh young heart, 
haunting her dreams and causing her that night to toss 
about on her pillow with the same strange feverishness 
that Helen of Troy must have experienced when she 
first encountered Paris, he would have been happy. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


29 


CHAPTER III. 

ELSIE ASTONISHES LADY BRATTLE. 

At breakfast next morning Elsie seemed to Sidney 
a shade paler. A new sensation had come into her life. 
She was still but a child in experience, for the solitude 
of her life with her Swiss preceptress, with its rural 
pleasures and simple pursuits, had kept her much 
younger in many things than girls reared in the society 
world can ever be. 

“ I approve of higher education for women, but 
not for girls,” said Lady Brattle to Miss Shy, as they 
sat on the south verandah, enjoying the balmy morn- 
ing air. “ Higher education produces the fast, fickle, 
frail creatures that crowd fashionable circles ; idle, au- 
dacious, slangy girls, who are no more fit for wives than 
agrisetteis. They are rapidly driving the notion of 
marriage out of the heads of all shrewd, thinking men 
who meet them. And yet they wonder why men do 
not marry nowadays ! They’re not such fools as to 
accept the crumpled, vitally exhausted poppies of 
society while the pure lilies of the field are still to be 
gathered.” 

“ But the lilies are getting scarcer every year,” ob- 
served her guest. 

“ For that very reason, they should be cultivated. 
I believe there is already a marked reaction in good 
society, and that up-to-date creatures will be utterly 
excluded in another decade.” 


30 


HI 9 EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ I hope so, for our sex’s good,” said Miss Shy. 
Then after a pause, she continued, “ Don’t you think 
Miss Elsie looks paler this morning, Lady Brattle ? ” 

“ Now you mention it, I think she does, but I had 
not particularly marked it before you spoke. She over- 
exerted herself in that game last night.” 

“ I hardly think it was the game,” remarked Miss 
Shy, carelessly. 

“ That, and her walk together ; perhaps both.” 

“ More likely the walk — she walked too long,” re- 
joined the American, drily. 

“ Walked too long? Really, I don’t understand 
you.” 

“You remember what I said last night about young 
Pleet ? ” 

“ Yes, yes, I do.” 

“ Well, no doubt, it’s pretty bad taste to speak of what 
one sees when visiting, but I’m mor’n ever convinced 
the poet is posing as a lover.” 

“ Dear me ! What have you heard ? ” 

“ Heard nothing. But love’s pantomime, you will 
admit, is sometimes more convincing than a play of 
words. She also got a letter this morning — which you 
did not see.” 

“ You alarm me ! I can hardly credit it ! Why she 
is only eighteen.” 

“Just the favourite age, with a poet.” 

“ Now, I remember, she did seem abstracted last 
night, and this morning, too.” 

“Of course, she did. Now, I hope, Lady Brattle, 
you won’t tl ink me ill-bred and meddlesome ; for, if 
you hadn’t seemed so averse to Pleet, and so dead sure 
last night, I should never have mentioned the subject 
again.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


3i 


“ Oh, I assure you, Miss Shy, I am deeply grateful 
to you.” 

Nevertheless, she felt annoyed with herself, and ex- 
perienced a vague resentment towards her guest. Pres- 
ently, however, when Sidney came up, and Nelly went 
off with him for a walk, Lady Brattle was glad of the 
opportune chance of speaking with Elsie alone. 

She found the girl in her boudoir, and was convinced, 
from a rapid scrutiny of her features, that something 
alarming had happened. 

“ My dear,” said Lady Brattle, taking her hand, and 
seating herself beside her on the couch, “ you are 
not quite well ! You have something to tell me, some- 
thing that is distressing you. Pray, be quite frank, 
my dear ! ” 

The girl hesitated a moment, her bosom heaved, her 
lips quivered, and her eyes grew moist with the effort 
to suppress the emotion that was struggling for relief. 
She then threw her arms around the other’s neck, and 
burst forth with, 

“ Oh, mother, mother ! I — I ” 

“Hush! child, hush ! ” cried Lady Brattle, uncon- 
sciously glancing at the door with a look of consternation. 
But Elsie had thrown her head upon her bosom, and 
sobbed forth. 

“ Oh, mother, mother ! do not deny me now — I am 
in great distress — I need your counsel — I need your 
love. You are my mother, I’ve known it a long time. 
And, oh ! how I have craved for the privilege of calling 
you by that sweet name, and of nestling to your 
heart.” 

“ But, how did you learn, child, how did you 
learn ? ” hugging her daughter to her breast with in- 
tense maternal fervour. 


3 2 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“From papa. Oh, mother, I have kept a secret 
from you. It was wrong, I know. I learned it from 
papa.” 

“ From Commodore Le Zaras?” frigidly. 

“ Yes, yes. Oh, do not speak of him so coldly. He 
is my father, after all.” 

“ But, how could you ? ” cried Lady Brattle, now 
pale and trembling with a new alarm. “ How could 
he have told you ? ” 

“ He came to me in Switzerland, two years ago. He 
employed a private detective, and traced me through 
your letters sent to me at school.” 

“ Oh, dear, dear ! I might have foreseen this ! ” 
cried the mother, with deep anguish and regret. “ But 
how did he gain access to you ? ” 

“ He frequently saw me out walking with our gover- 
ness. So, one day, by the lakeside, he asked her if I 
was not from India, the daughter of Colonel Lisle. Of 
course, she said that I was ; and he then told her he 
was a friend of the family, and had known Colonel 
Lisle very well. He met us day after day. Finally, 
one afternoon, when we were alone for a moment, he 
told me who he was, and asked me if I could not re- 
member him ; and I did, for, you know, I was five years 
old when he went away to Burmah, and I was led by 
my Hindoo nurses to believe that he was dead, and that 
my mother was dead — and that was why aunt and uncle 
had adopted me. But I had a vague, childish idea that 
you were not dead, but that something had happened 
which as a child, I was not to be told.” 

“Something did happen, Elsie, and your father is 
dead — dead to me, and to all Christians.” 

“ Oh, mother, do not speak of him so bitterly. He 
spoke kindly of you, and said that, for the love of 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


33 


power, he had abandoned his religion and neglected you. 
He told me that I must always honour and obey you, 
for you were a good mother, and to him, he added, a 
good wife.” 

“ Did he tell you of my divorce ? ” 

“Yes, everything. And he never blamed you once, 
but said that he was glad to learn that you were happy, 
for you deserved to be.” 

The distressed mother could not reply ; her late hus- 
band’s generous words stifled the rancour that was 
welling up within her. She rose and paced the room, 
her beautiful features strangely drawn with the effort 
to conceal both confusion and trepidation. At length 
she paused, and in a broken, tremulous, almost quaking 
voice, asked : 

“ Have you ever mentioned this to Sir Richard?” 

“ No, mother, for ” 

“Then, don’t, my child. For I have deceived him. 
In a vain, foolish moment, I told him I was childless — 
and I have never had the courage to reveal the truth, 
for he believes you to be the daughter of Colonel 
Lisle.” 

The mother clasped the girl’s hands tenderly between 
her own, and continued : “ My dear, you will keep this 
secret, for your mother’s sake, I know. Men are so 
queer — so jealous ! Sir Richard would not regard you 
with the favour he does if he knew whose child you are ; 
he would not be human, if he did. So, my dear, I must 
beseech you, for the sake of our mutual happiness, 
to keep our secret.” 

“ I will, mother, I will ! ” cried the girl, fervently, 
pressing her cheek against her mother’s, and repeatedly 
kissing her. “ But what must I do about this letter from 
my father. He is in London.” 

3 


34 


IllS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ In London, child ! In London ! ” gasped Lady 
Brattle, her consternation returning tenfold. 

“Yes. I — I — opened the letter this morning before 
you came to breakfast. It astonished, shocked me, so, 
I don’t know how I concealed my distress. You may 
read it.” 

She gave the letter to her mother, who, with ill-con- 
cealed agitation, mastered the contents. 

It began with many words of affection and endear- 
ment, and said that, as the writer had been in Paris on 
business, he could not resist coming to London on the 
chance of again meeting his dear child, who must be 
now almost a woman. It concluded by saying : “ I am, 
now, my dear, in a position to make some financial 
provision for your future, and wish to do so. There- 
fore, if Lady Brattle will not permit you to meet me 
at the office of my solicitor, Mr. Ogilvie Thomas, 190 
Walbrook Street, will she receive Mr. Thomas to-morrow 
so that he may explain my intentions? A telegram in 
care of Mr. Thomas will reach me. With great affec- 
tion, your devoted father. 

“ Victor Le Zaras.” 

When she had finished, the letter dropped from her 
hands as she exclaimed : 

“ Oh, you cannot meet him ! It would be madness ! 
Oh, gracious Heaven ! What have I done that my path 
should be crossed with this man after all these years ! ” 

Lady Brattle paced the room, panic-stricken with 
fear and distress, and utterly unnerved. 

“ Oh, what is to be done ! What is to be done ! Oh, 
that I had never been so weak and foolish as to deceive 
your uncle. Then, he could advise me.” 

“ But, mamma, my father has a right to see me ” 

“ He has forfeited all right by years of neglect — by 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


35 

a life of selfish, sensual indifference ! ” replied Lady 
Brattle fiercely. 

“ Oh, mamma ! ” The girl’s eyes assumed an expres- 
sion of sad, appealing gentleness. Her mother checked 
the outburst, and then, absently reading over the letter 
again, decided, after a little reflection, to let Elsie tele- 
graph to Mr. Thomas. So, accordingly, an appoint- 
ment was made with the solicitor for three o’clock that 
afternoon. 

When Lady Brattle had somewhat recovered from 
the excitement, she said to Elsie : 

“ I thought, my dear, your distress was owing to an- 
other cause ” She paused and waited to see if the 

girl would explain. 

“ Do you mean Tom’s conduct last night, mamma? 
Yes, that distressed me too, for ” 

“ Yes, yes, dear, did he propose to you ! ” 

“ I suppose it was a declaration ; but it came upon 
me so suddenly that it shocked me.” 

“Then, you don’t love him, dear?” 

“ Love him ! No, that is why I felt so distressed at 
his manner, for I’ve never encouraged him. I fear I 
was very curt, and silent, and disagreeable with Sidney 
when he walked home with me.” 

“ Oh, don’t trouble about Sidney, my dear ; he never 
noticed it.” 

Lady Brattle dismissed Sidney as of no consequence, 
and went on to say : “lam delighted, my dear, to find 
you have given me your confidence in your first affair 
of this kind, and I hope you will always do so in future.” 

“ That, I should naturally do, mamma.” 

“ I believe you would, my dear.” 

But the girl did not then confess her tender regard 
for Sidney Dane, because, with true maidenly modesty, 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


3 6 

she was in doubt as to his affection. After the chilling 
remark of her mother, that he had not noticed her 
petulant humour, this smothered her confession. 

What a blessing it is that the Almighty has made bud- 
ding love so charmingly perplexing and uncertain ! It 
is the one human emotion that science cannot correctly 
analyse, or the mummery of smart society entirely 
eradicate, or make commonplace. The impatient old 
roue' and the most insatiate coquette are never entirely 
dead to its thrill. Though they cannot feel with the 
same ecstasy as of yore, they find no greater delight 
than in watching its mercurial effect on a younger gen- 
eration. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


37 


CHAPTER IV. 

AN UNEXPECTED SOLICITOR. 

In the afternoon, Nelly, perceiving that her hostess 
was suffering from a nervous uneasiness, invited Sidney 
to join her in a ramble along the river. About three 
o’clock in the afternoon, just as Lady Brattle was 
endeavouring to calm her nerves by a little repose, a 
closed carriage drove up to the entrance ; a tall, corpu- 
lent, dark-bearded gentleman got out, and was shown 
into the cool, shaded drawing-room. The maid tripped 
up the stairs with the card of “Mr. Ogilvie Thomas,” 
and on the landing encountered Elsie. The girl took 
the card to her mother, who said : 

“You had better receive Mr. Thomas, Elsie, and say 
I shall be down in a few minutes.” 

Elsie descended the stairs, glided into the drawing- 
room, and, instead of meeting the solicitor, was met 
with the outstretched arms of her father, Victor Le 
Zaras. 

The girl’s face blanched when she saw who it was, 
and she stopped, undecided what to do. But her father 
came forward and cried : 

“Ah, mon enfant , am I not welcome?” his large 
eyes and olive face beaming with animation. 

“Yes, you are welcome — but — Oh, papa ” the 

girl’s breast heaved, her tongue refused to utter the 
reproach she thought. 


38 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Ah, I zee, you resent ze subterfuge I have practice. 
Ah, ma cherie, forgive me — it was the yearning of a 
father’s heart ! I knew your mo — your aunt would 
not let you come to zee me — zo, I come to you. It ees 
not what you like, eh ? ” He had taken her in his 
arms by this time, and kissed her with all the intense 
fervour of his paternal, animal nature. 

“ I wished to see you,” she said, “ and should have 
come to you, sooner than you should have come to — 
to this house. Oh, dear! dear ! why ” 

“ I know, I know what you mean, mon enfant. But 
I will not compromise your mot — piff ! I must say 
your aunt. But I firs’ fin’ your uncle ees pleading in 
ze court — zo there ees no danger.” 

“ But, there is danger — we have visitors.” 

“ I will only zee you — I will not trouble Lady Brattle. 
Zo make yourself peaceful. Ah,” he continued look- 
ing at her admiringly, “ you have ripened like a peach, 
round, full, and as sweet. You are now a woman, ma 
chere ! A beautiful woman ! More beautiful than 
your mother — and she was an angel, too good for 
me. Ah, yes, too good for me ! Is she well, and 
happy ? ” 

“ Yes, but your letter has almost prostrated her — for 
she thought you were in Burmah. It shocked her that 
you should be so near. She did not know until to-day 
that you had seen me in Switzerland.” 

“ Ah, I zee! You have told her you know she ees 
your — ees not your aunt? ” 

“Yes. But only to-day — all this, you see, coming 
together, has distressed her.” 

“ Yes, yes. I can think it would. And you, too, ma 
chWe. But I have gain wealth in Burmah, and as I 
am grow old, I wish to make you a — a provision. For 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


39 


you will some day marry — so I have deposited with 
Messrs. Coutts, ze bankers, ten zousand pounds — that 
shall be your dowry ” 

“ Oh, papa ! ” cried his child, her heart swelling with 
gratitude. “ I cannot find words to thank you, you 
are so devoted to me/’ 

“You have found looks, mon enfant, zat speak your 
gratitude. Ah ! I am proud of you — and grateful to 
the Almighty, that I should live to zee ma cJCerie grow 
to such a lovely woman.” They were seated together 
in the cool, shaded room, for only one of the blinds had 
been raised. He was caressing her hand with some- 
thing of the fervour of a wild beast, when the door 
opened, and Lady Brattle glided into the room. She 
closed the door, leisurely placed her glasses over her 
patrician nose, and advanced towards them. They 
both rose to meet her, when she suddenly stopped, her 
glasses dropped from her hand, she grasped the back 
of a chair to steady herself, and managed to gasp : 

“ Elsie, is — this is not Mr. Thomas ? ” 

The girl’s face became strangely marked with pain 
as she replied : 

“ No, mamma, it is — it is my father.” 

With an effort her mother straightened herself, yet 
it seemed an eternity before either of them recovered 
sufficiently to speak ; then her ladyship said : 

“ How dare you intrude here, sir ? This is an outrage 
I did not expect even from you,” with imperious 
indignation. 

Her former husband replied with his usual bonhomie , 
and easy indifference : 

“ I did not come to zee you, ma — Lady Brattle,” 
with emphasis on the title, “ but to see our child ! ” 

“You have forfeited all right to see your child ” 


40 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“Ah, pardon, ma ladie. No, no. I cannot admit 
that,” with a deprecatory smile. 

“ Y ou have, you have ! By years of neglect, and ” 

“ By your divorce, you would say ? Sez it not zo ? 
The law always allows the father to zee ze child.” 

“ I will not discuss the matter with you. I am now 
the wife of another — and it is a gross insult for you 
to come into his house in this base manner.” 

“ But you would not let me zee ma chere .” 

“ No, because, by your selfish, unchristian life, you 
are not fit to advise her.” 

“Ah, Betsy ” 

“ How dare you, sir, address me by ” 

“You know me of old,” he went on, ignoring her 
protest. “You may get angry, but I never did. I 
have deserved all you say, — but — I — adore our child. 
I come to provide for her, not to distress you.” 

“ I will not allow you to provide for her ! ” 

“ Ah, but I have.” 

“ You must not, you shall not ! ” exclaimed her lady- 
ship, as she paced the room, her face deadly pale and 
distorted with suppressed anger. “ She shall never be 
indebted to you for anything.” 

“ Mamma ! ” pleaded the girl, “ is that not — not un- 
reasonable ? ” 

“ No ; you cannot understand my reasons. He 
abandoned you, he ” 

“ Zo did you, ma ladie” retorted Le Zaras, with an 
amiable smile. “ Until you had feathered your nest 
and chosen a new mate, then ” 

“ I will not endure this. Leave my house at once, 
sir,” cried his former wife, now livid with rage, and 
indicating the door with an imperious wave of her 
hand. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


41 


“ Auntie, auntie ! ” pleaded the girl, grasping her 
mother’s arm, “ do not say that.” 

“You had better listen to me, ma ladie. If we can- 
not be friends, we need not be enemies. We may meet 
again, for I am now the naval adviser to ” 

“ I don’t care what you are — I pray to God we may 
never meet again,” she broke in fiercely. “ If you 
are not gone in ten minutes I shall summon the butler 
to show you the door.” With this threat her ladyship 
left the room. 

And presently, after an affectionate farewell with 
his daughter, Le Zaras drove away. 

It would have saved her future trouble if Lady Brat- 
tle had listened to her former spouse, for he was about 
to explain that he was now the naval adviser to the 
Khedive of Egypt. 


42 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIPE. 


CHAPTER V. 

NELLY INTERVIEWS SIDNEY. 

Meanwhile, Nelly Shy was entertaining Sidney. 
As they strolled along the river side, the dashing Nelly 
observed : 

“ I hear you’ve been to pretty nigh all the most in- 
teresting ports of the Southern seas. Now, as I’m 
goin’ round the globe to write up the ‘ Women of the 
World ’ for the Journal , you might give me the benefit 
of your impressions, for I can’t possibly take in all the 
leetle one-horse countries along the route.” 

“ But I didn’t form any impressions, Miss Shy,” said 
the young lieutenant, somewhat surprised, for she had 
taken out her note-book in a business-like way. 

“ Didn’t form any impressions ! How could you help 
it?” 

“ I had no opportunity.” 

“ No opportunity, and you a sailor ! Oh, come, that’s 
too extremely filmy. Why, you were telling Miss 
Lisle last night about the girls of Dahomey.” 

“ Oh, but I saw very little of them ; we only put in 
there for a few days.” 

“ Oh, that was long enough to form an impression. 
Pretty pushing, strong-minded women, ain’t they?” 

“ I should say they were, but I ” 

“ Rule the roost, don’t they ? ” 

“ I believe so.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


43 


“ Do the national fighting, but despise the domestic 
spanking, eh ? 

“ So I gathered from what Dolby, our surgeon, told 
me.” 

“ Oh, Dolby investigated them, did he ? ” 

“ Yes, as a naturalist, he was interested.” 

“ Of course, of course. All men are naturalists in 
such matters,” she said with a humorous glance. 
“ Wal, let’s have his experience, if you’re too modest 
to relate your own.” 

“ But, I assure you, Miss Shy, I had none.” 

“ Wal, for the sake of brevity, as they say in law, 
we’ll admit that. It’s perpetual leap-year in Dahomey. 
I’ve heard the girls propose, don’t they ?” 

“ I believe Dolby said so.” 

“They’ve more passion than devotion, more muscle 
than modesty ; careless about their constancy, and 
thrash the man who scorns their advances, eh ? ” 

“ Really Miss Shy, I paid so little attention to what 
Dolby said, I don’t remember details ; but I think you’re 
about right.” 

“Oh, I wish I had Dolby here. How old is your 
friend Dolby?” 

“ About forty.” 

“ Ah, then, by this time, he’s an accomplished femi- 
nine naturalist.” 

“ I suppose he is,” replied Sidney, greatly amused at 
her audacious observations. 

As they sauntered along, Miss Shy kept plying him 
with questions about the characteristics of the women 
of the various countries he had visited. 

At length, when they were seated on a fragment of 
ruined masonry, with the river splashing at their feet, 
the dripping meadow-bolts glistening in the sun, and 


44 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


the reeds swaying gracefully in the gentle breeze, 
Nelly observed : 

“ I suppose you and Dolby took in China and Japan ? ” 

“ Yes. We put into Hong Kong and Yokohama.” 

“ Ha ! what did Dolby think of the soft, seductive 
Japanese girls ? ” 

“ I really don’t remember.” 

“Don’t remember! Wal, I’m surprised! Why, 
Japan’s a veritable paradise for the naturalist.” 

“ Is it ? ” asked the young sailor, with genuine curi- 
osity. 

“ Why, of course it is. Haven’t you read the en- 
trancing Japanese letters by the peripatetic poet of the 
Telegraph ? ” 

“No, I can’t say I have.” 

“Wal, do, the first chance you get; they give you 
the most fascinating details of the almond-eyed beau- 
ties ; even to the frills they wear on their night-robes.” 

“ Ho ! ” and Sidney glanced at Nelly with a surprised 
smile. “ Aren’t they rather — er — startling for a news- 
paper ?” 

“ Oh, no. You can put most anything you like in an 
English journal, but you must be careful what you 
put on the stage.” 

“ Do you believe in that sort of journalism, Miss 
Shy?” 

“ As a true woman, I don’t. As a female pencil- 
pusher, I do. I’ve got to earn my living — the public 
want novelty — so it’s my business to find it for them. 
If I don’t, others will.” Then, glancing inquiringly at 
him, she continued, “ But I guess you think me 
strangely brazen and unwomanly, yet ” 

“ Oh, no, no, I don’t, Miss Shy,” he hastened to reply, 
for he had remained silent. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


4f> 

“ Oh, I guess you do, but you’re too well-bred to say 
so. If you knew me better, you wouldn’t.” 

“ I assure you, I don’t. I can’t help wondering, and 
admiring your daring, enterprise — going round the 
world alone.” 

“ I wish you would look at my career in this light,” 
she said, carelessly throwing one leg over the other, 
holding her knee with her clasped hands, so that the 
superb proportions of her limbs were outlined beneath 
her light muslin gown, a few inches of her dainty hose 
just visible, and her tiny, well-shod feet in most 
coquettish evidence. 

“ Suppose I were a female doctor,” she continued, 
“ I should have to face all the hideous operations of the 
dissecting-room, and the noxious horrors of domestic 
practice. Wal, it’s a trite saying that ‘A good physician 
can’t be a good moralist,’ and it’s just as true that a 
conscientious lady journalist can’t be a stickler for pro- 
priety — and succeed. So, I consider the lady jour- 
nalist and the lady doctor are riding the same mule. We 
are both politely jeered at, as we canter round the 
circus of society ; but I get a leetle the most of the 
jeering.” Her dark creole eyes flashed angrily, and 
two ruddy, copper-coloured spots glowed in her cheeks 
as she concluded. 

“Oh, I don’t think you do, Miss Shy. Your inde- 
pendent spirit compels admiration in most men ” 

“ Oh, it’s not the men ; they’re generous enough. It’s 
the shallow, simpering daisies of society, who have no 
brains or backbone of their own, and envy those who 
have.” 

“ I believe you’re not far wrong, though I know very 
little about society myself.” 

“ Wal, you’d never die of enlargement of the heart, 


46 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


if you did. Now, about Dolby! Was he much ashore 
in Japan ? ” 

“ A week here and a week there.” 

“And you were with him?” interrogated the lady 
journalist, with an arch smile. 

“Yes, more or less.” 

“ How did the social charms of the Japanese women 
impress you ? ” 

“ Impress me ? Not at all, not in the slightest degree,” 
replied Sidney, with perfect composure. 

Nelly looked at him incredulously for an instant, 
and then continued : 

“ Wal, you’re about as cold and passionless as a mud- 
turtle. Why, you must have missed half the fun of the 
fair. Wal, how did they strike Dolby? ” 

“ He was very much interested, I should judge, 
for he was engaged on his diary for weeks after we 
left.” 

“ Oh ! So he kept a diary of his impressions ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ How I wish I had that diary ! Why, I’d give all 
my back-hair for a transcript of Dolby’s impressions.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! ” laughed Sidney, “ I don’t think he’d 
care for you to see them.” 

“No, I guess not,” said Nelly, drily. 

Sidney Dane had one of those rare and singular tem- 
peraments that few women, and fewer men of the 
world, can understand. He was not indifferent to 
feminine beauty, but there was only one being in the 
world, whose voice and presence stirred his blood with 
the fever which produces the divine passion. Nelly 
Shy could not comprehend him ; she had used every 
feminine art to win a compliment, or force an expres- 
sion of admiration, without avail. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


47 

As they were retracing their steps, Nelly suddenly 
observed : 

“ Say, you’re the most undemonstrative fellow I ever 
met. You must have had a heap of adventures in 
your travels, but you never brag about them.” 

“ Yes, I’ve had some adventures.” 

“ In Japan ? Romantic, eh ? ” 

“ No, no. I believe you have got Japan on the 
brain,” he answered playfully. 

“In India?” 

“ No, but I had one in Burmah that was rather 
amusing.” 

“ Oh, let’s hear it.” 

“ It was up one of those rivers where there’s a great 
trade in rice. The Psyche was anchored not far above 
the mouth. The place had been infested with petty 
Siamese pirates, and the native prince, to protect his 
trade, had established a little fleet of gunboats and put 
them in charge of an ex-commander of the French navy, 
named Le Zaras. This Le Zaras very quickly ruined 
the nefarious business of the pirates. So they set their 
wits to work to find some way of getting rid of him ; 
for, unlike his predecessors, he had been faithful to the 
Burmese prince. Well, it turned out that this Le Zaras 
was something of a lady-killer in his way, and the 
pirate-in-chief used a fair Siamese demoiselle as a decoy, 
got Le Zaras on board her barge, and when they were 
floating peacefully down the river, the pirate and his 
gang put out from a tributary and took poor old Le 
Zaras a prisoner. 

“ It happened that day that Dolby and I had a 
boat’s crew and were sailing up the river on a 
botanical excursion, when we came abreast of the 
pirate craft, with the barge in tow, It struck me as 


48 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


being somewhat suspicious, so I hailed the party. They 
saluted, but continued on their way. As we had 
instructions to examine all suspicious craft, I boarded 
her.” 

“ I should think,” said Nelly, “ the lady-killer had 
reason to thank you for saving his life.” 

“ Oh, he had, and he did,” replied Sidney. They 
were now strolling up the chestnut drive towards Oxley 
House, and Le Zaras’s carriage was just leaving the 
door. 

“ He was most profuse in his thanks,” continued 
Sidney, “ and entertained me at his bungalow ” 

At this juncture, Le Zaras rapidly drove by. 

“ Did you notice that man ? ” asked Sidney. 

“Yes,” said Nelly, “why?” 

“ Why, he’s the very image of the person I’ve been 
speaking about.” 

“What, the Frenchman? ” 

“ Yes, I never saw a more perfect likeness.” 

“ But it can’t be him.” 

“ Of course not,” said her companion ; yet it is an odd 
coincidence. The resemblance was most real and strik- 
ing.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE , 


49 


CHAPTER VI. 

SIR RICHARD SUCCUMBS TO NELLY’S FLATTERY. 

Lady Brattle was indisposed the day after her in- 
terview with M. Le Zaras, but found time to assure 
Miss Shy that Elsie was utterly indifferent to Tom 
Pleet. This information the American lost no time 
in gleefully conveying to the young lieutenant, whose 
hopes rose in consequence: But there was something 
in the young girl’s manner he could not understand. 

A day or two after, Sidney went to town with Sir 
Richard ; for the Q. C. had consulted an eminent re- 
tired naval officer as to the value of his invention, and 
this gentleman reported most favourably upon it ; the 
patent was duly applied for in the name of Peter Tuttle 
(now retired from Her Majesty’s service), and one-half 
the interest assigned to Sir Richard Brattle. 

Two nights before her departure for Paris, where she 
was going to make a protracted study of the fair 
Parisians, Nelly Shy found her host smoking alone in 
his study. 

“Sir Richard,” she said, “I wish to ask you a 
favour.” 

“ I shall be charmed, Miss Shy, to grqnt it, I’m sure, 
if a possibility.” 

“ Wal, as you know, I must leave day after to-mor- 
row, I’m sorry to say, for I’ve had a most delightful 
visit.” 

4 


5 ° 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“ And we regret to lose your company, I assure you, 
Miss Shy.” 

“ It’s real nice of you to say so. Now, you’re a 
modest man, I know ” 

“ Pray, don’t accuse me of such a useless char- 
acteristic.” 

“ Wal, you are. Now, I’ve been trying to induce 
Lady Brattle to allow me to publish her portrait in the 
Chicago Ladies Journal , in our series of ‘ Famous 
Wives of Famous Men.’ ” 

“ Oh !” exclaimed Sir Richard, elevating his eyebrows. 

“We’ve already had Mrs. Gladstone, Mrs. Chamber- 
lain, Madame Carnot, Lady August, and others.” 

“ Oh, indeed, quite a distinguished company.” 

“ Wal, I believe I could get Lady Brattle’s consent if I 
got yours. She’s famous in literature ; you’re famous 
at the bar.” 

“ Well, really, Miss Shy, I don’t know what to 
say. 

“Say as Mr. Justice August said when I asked him. 
* Certainly, my wife’s a brilliant woman, intellectually 
and physically, and I’m gratified at the eminent posi- 
tion she holds in the world of literature.’ Now,” she 
continued, “ Lady Brattle is quite as famous in letters, 
and is the handsomest woman of her age I’ve seen in 
England, and her portrait ought to adorn our pages.” 

“ I’m sure, I’ve no objection,” smiled the Q. C. ironi- 
cally, “if Lady Brattle wants to join the gallery of 
modest matrons ” 

“ Oh, it’s not her seeking, I assure you, Sir Richard. 
She’d never thought of it but for me. I understand 
her reluctance ; she’s such a sweet, sensitive, womanly 
woman, she’d never dream of it or sanction it, without 
your approval. That’s what I like in your English 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


51 

wives, they rely so implicitly on the nicer judgment 
of the husbands.” 

The Q. C. thought to himself, this is an uncommonly 
sensible woman, and wavered. 

Every celebrity likes flattery, or he would never be- 
come a celebrity. It is the one sweet wine from the 
vintage of fame that is agreeable to every palate. 
There are eminent men who are never surfeited with 
repeated bumpers; while others only accept a mere 
thimbleful, with the same depreciating smile that a 
young lady takes her first glass of champagne ; but, 
nevertheless, they all assimilate it with satisfaction. 

Sir Richard was flattered, and, consequently, after a 
little further urging, assented to Nelly’s proposal, and 
in due time Lady Brattle’s portrait appeared among 
the ‘ Famous Wives of Famous Men ’ in the still more 
famed Chicago Ladies Journal . 


S 2 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

SIDNEY BECOMES A LOVER IN EARNEST. 

About five o’clock in the evening of the day before 
the American’s departure, Sir Richard, Elsie, and Sid- 
ney rowed some three miles up the river to call upon 
the old Earl of Mulvaney, who was very fond of dis- 
cussing his family matters with the astute Q. C., whose 
opinions, though he greatly valued, he reluctantly re- 
munerated ; for the old earl was penurious to a degree, 
and, under the guise of friendship, often gained much 
legal advice, just as many people use their social rela- 
tions with a doctor. 

The young people were invited to dinner, and after 
that function (at which they were edified by the earl’s 
racy Irish brogue), they were left to ramble by them- 
selves. At nine o’clock Sir Richard had not completed 
his business ; so he sent Elsie and Sidney home 
alone, and said he would return later in the earl’s 
carriage. So the young lovers set forth on their voyage 
down-stream. It was a delightful evening in June, and 
it seemed to Sidney that he had nSrer seen his compan- 
ion so merry before, for she mimicked the earl’s brogue 
and style in a most bewitching manner. She laughed 
unconstrainedly at every mild joke of his, and, being 
thus encouraged, Sidney took the cue from his com- 
panion, and gave a burlesque imitation of McMullan at 
gunnery drill, even to the brogue. Elsie had to hold 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


S3 


her handkerchief over her pretty lips to keep from 
screaming at his unexpected drollery. Then the pleas- 
ure of amusing her impelled him to describe with light 
facetious satire, O’Fallan and McMullan engaged in 
a * paceable * debate on home-rule ; for the former was a 
Nationalist and the latter a rabid Orangeman. 

When he had ended his recital, the girl’s eyes were 
glistening with the tears of laughter, and she gave a 
deep satisfied sigh, as one will when the heart has been 
overcharged with mirth. Then they both fell to silently 
musing and speculating on the unexpected characteris- 
tics they had discovered in each other, for they had never 
had the opportunity of being so companionable before. 

Later, when they got fairly into the stream, Elsie 
said : “You must let me row now, for I know you had 
a hard pull up.” 

“ Faith oi’ll not,” replied Sidney, still talking in the 
facetious brogue. “ Is it insult me, you would, ask- 
ing me to let a lady row for me ? ” 

“ But I should enjoy it. Give me an oar, please.” 

“ Sorry an oar ye’ll get wid me,” with much de- 
cision. 

“ But I really like sculling.” 

“ So do the Fijians — wid clubs.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! you are determined to make light of 
everything. Even of the moon. Look, how she 
floats yonder like a silver egg,” he cried, and then be- 
gan, in a doleful baritone, Captain Corcoran’s song 
from “ Pinafore, “ Pal-e m-o-o-n, to thee, I s-i-n-g,” the 
words, being comically jerked out between each stroke 
of the sculls. They were swiftly gliding down the 
stream, the rays of the egg-shaped moon tipped the 
rippling river with a wavy, tremulous light, and the 
dome of heaven was flecked with scurrying clouds. 


54 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ There !” he said gaily, as he finished the verse, 
“ you didn’t know I was a rival of Santley’s.” 

“ I didn’t know you had such a — a — ” she stopped 
and searched her brain for an adjective that was not 
too complimentary — “ such a trained voice,” she finally 
said. 

“ A thousand thanks, madam, for the compliment 
he cried, doffing his cap with burlesque ceremony and 
almost losing his oar in doing so. 

“ There ! ” she exclaimed, “ you will lose your oar if 
you are not careful. Pray, do be serious ! ” 

“ Pray, do be steer-ious ,” he rejoined banteringly.’’ 
“ Why, you’re running us into the bank. Port your 
helm ! Port your helm ! Quick ! ” 

“ Which is port ? ” 

“ Which is port ! The idea of a river-bred girl not 
knowing port from sherry.” 

“ What nonsense ! I know you mean port and star- 
board. Which is port, please? ” pleadingly. 

“ It seems to be the bank just now, kindly pull the 
other cord, or into the mud we go.” 

“ It’s all your fault! If you didn’t act so — so ridic- 
ulously, I could steer well enough. Now, if you give 
me one oar, and you take the other, we shall get on 
much better.” 

“ Divil an oar ye’ll get ! ” he reiterated, his dark 
eyes glowing with mirth. 

“ Why ? ” 

“ Oh, I’ve got a reason.” 

“ What is the reason ? ” 

“ You might not think it a good one.” 

“ Yes, I should, please tell me ! ” 

“ Well, I prefer a pretty girl’s handsome face to her 
handsome back. I prefer to watch the rays of the 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


55 


moon playing amongst her auburn tresses, and the 
charming perplexity of her soft brown eyes, while she 
is trying to steer. I prefer ” 

“ Oh, Mr. Dane ! ” cried Elsie, her face becoming 
serious and suffused with blushes in the same instant. 

“ Mister Dane ! Why am I suddenly plunged from 
the familiar Sidney, to the formal mister ? ” 

“ Because, because — well ! — it’s not proper to call you 
by your Christian name.” 

“ But you have done so all the evening.” 

“ Oh, no, no ; you must be mistaken.” 

“ Pardon me, but you have, Elsie.” 

“ Have I ? — then — then it was thoughtless.” 

“ Then let us continue thoughtless — it is much bet- 
ter than insincere formality ! She marked the increasing 
tenderness in his voice and the admiring glow in his 
eyes. 

“ But you must not talk like that.” 

“ Like what ? ” 

“ What you said just now. I’m sure you would not, 
if you knew.” 

“ Knew what ? ” leisurely pulling in his oars and 
leaning forward upon them. 

“ What I know,” was the answer evading his burn- 
ing glance. 

“ Tell me what you know, and then I can judge.” 
It flashed upon him what the American had said. 

“ Oh, no, I can’t do that, it’s a confidence,” she re- 
plied. 

Nelly Shy had told her that morning he must have 
been crossed in love to be so utterly indifferent to their 
sex ; so the girl was thinking of that. 

“ Now, you compel me to be serious,” he replied, with 
a tremour in his voice that could not be misunderstood. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


& 

He longed to take one of those plump round hands 
’that lay in her lap and pour forth the volcano of love 
that was surging within him. 

Her lustrous brown eyes no longer met his with 
absolute candour, her voice was lower, and she had lost 
her recent buoyant self-possession ; but with this shy 
hesitation she looked to him sweeter than ever. Now 
that Love had thrown his magic influence about her 
soul, as reflected in the tenderness of her face, she 
seemed to the young sailor too angelic to woo, too pure 
and innocent to shock, with a declaration that he feared 
might be abhorrent to her. So he began to row again. 

“ Don’t you think it has become cooler ? ” she asked, 
with a shudder, and an effort to speak calmly. 

“ Perhaps it has ; do you feel cold ? ” 

“Yes, a little,” contracting her pretty shoulders. 

“ Then let me throw my coat over you.” He quickly 
doffed his coat, as he spoke. 

“ Oh, no, I will not deprive you.” 

“ But I don’t need it. I’m exercising.” 

“ Thank you, but I can’t accept your coat. ‘There 
is a rug in the bow of the boat ; can you find it ? ” 

“ Oh, yes.” He drew in the sculls and reached for 
the wrap which proved to be a thick Scotch plaid. 

“ Is it quite dry ? ” she asked, as he was about to 
place it over her shoulders. 

“ I believe so,” he said, feeling it. 

She hesitated, and felt it too. “ Aren’t you really 
going to wear your coat ? ” she asked looking up into 
his face, her handsome Grecian nose in profile. 

“ No. I feel more freedom without it. I’m used to 
the weather, you know.” 

“ Then, if you don’t mind, Mr. Dane, I think I pre- 
fer the coat.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


* * 
5 / 


Sidney silently placed the coat over her shoulders. 

“ Oh, thank you.” Then, after a pause, she con- 
tinued, as if it were an after-thought. “ I think it 
safer, don’t you ? The rug may be damp, and we can’t 
feel it, and I might catch cold.” 

Sidney assented. If he had been in his usual cool, 
placid frame of mind, he would have seen through the 
girl’s absurd preference for his jacket, for the rug was 
perfectly dry ; it was only a love-sick feeling, a sentimen- 
tal desire to feel his coat over her shoulders, just as he 
would treasure her glove. 

The young sailor rowed on vigorously in silence. Now 
and again, a great black cloud drifted across the moon, 
and the boat and its occupants were in semi-darkness for 
some minutes. 

“ Are you not rowing a little too fast, considering 
the darkness ? ” she asked. 

“ Perhaps I am,” he rejoined, “ I’ve become so seri- 
ous. I didn’t know how fast I was pulling.” 

“ One can be serious without being furious — and 
silent,” she answered, rather petulantly. 

“ Why do you think I’m furious ? ” 

“ I judge by your resolute face and reckless scull- 
ing.” 

“ But I’m not furious. Still, I’m trying to be serious, 
since you prefer me so.” 

“ I didn’t say that, Sidney — I mean Mr. ” 

“ No, you don’t. You mean Sidney. And Sidney 
I’ll be called, or nothing,” said the young sailor firmly. 

“ Well, I didn’t say that I preferred you serious.” 

“ I think you did or implied it — at a time when I felt 
more serious than I ever felt in my life — Elsie — I ” 

“ Hush, I hear some one coming ! ” she cried, and 
listened. But her warning came too late, for they 


HIS EGYPT/AH WIFE. 


5 * 

crashed into a boat coming up-stream, and one of Sid- 
ney’s oars was shattered in the collision, while his wrist 
received a nasty wrench in trying to extricate it. Elsie 
did not scream, but uttered a suppressed, “ Oh, dear, 
dear ! ” 

“ Why the devil don’t you learn the rules of the 
river, before you venture on it ! ” fiercely came from 
the darkness. 

“ It’s as much your fault as mine, is it not, my 
friend ? ” retorted Sidney to the profane stranger. 

“ That shows your gross stupidity. You’ve got a 
coxswain, and I’ve not. Besides, you were rowing as if 
the devil were after you.” 

The moon had been for some time obscured by a 
dense cloud, so they could only discern the shadowy 
figure of the speaker. But Elsie at once recognized 
the voice of Tom Pleet. 

“ What’s your number?” shouted the poet, as they 
drifted apart. “ I shall hold you responsible if there’s 
any damage done to my boat.” 

“ I don’t know,” replied Sidney. 

“ Oh, that game won’t do. I shall follow you, and 
find out if you don’t give it to me.” 

Elsie eagerly whispered the number to Sidney, and 
he called it after Tom ; who then continued on his way 
as if satisfied. 

“That fellow’s voice seemed familiar,” observed 
Sidney, as he straightened the boat with the single 
oar. 

“ It’s Tom Pleet. I thought you recognized him.” 

“ He of all men in the world ! That is strange. 
What is he doing here at this time of night ? ” 

“ Oh, he often comes on the river to muse and 
meditate on moonlight nights.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIPE. 


59 


“ You didn't speak to him ? ” 

“ Oh, I — I — had no desire to, because he acted so — 
so — well, quite rudely over the matter — so utterly 
selfish. He never even asked how we had fared in the 
collision, as most men would have done." 

“ Well, I was really to blame." 

“ Not entirely. I ought to have kept a better look- 
out," said his companion, with a tone bordering on 
humiliation. 

“ How far have we to go ; can you make out the land- 
marks ? " he asked, ignoring her regretful tone. 

“ About half a mile, I imagine." 

“ I think we shall get on about as fast by drifting 
with the current as by pulling with one oar." 

“ I think so, too. There ! the moon is coming out 
again. Oh, isn’t it glorious ! But won’t you feel cold 
now, without your coat, Sidney ? " 

She looked admiringly at his clinging snowy shirt, 
which showed the muscular proportions of his shoul- 
ders to advantage. 

“ No, oh, no," he replied, “ not in the least." After 
a pause, he continued, “ Don’t you think it would be 
wiser if I were to sit beside you and help to keep the 
lookout ? " 

“ Perhaps it would ; it might be safer at any rate," 
she assented, smilingly. 

“ Unless I become frivolous again, eh?" taking the 
seat beside her. 

“ Oh, I don’t care," she gasped, as if her heart had 
been relieved from a great fright or burden. “ I prefer 
you to be frivolous to being so desperately serious." 

“ Ha, ha! even though you know something that I 
don’t know." 

“ But you do know it." 


6o 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Oh, do I ? How stupid I am. Let me see, what 
is it I know ? ” holding his forehead in his hands, with 
a burlesque effort at reflection. 

“You are simply too ridiculous! Why, you know 
very well — it’s — it’s most unbecoming for a girl to — to 
— laugh and giggle, and ” 

“ Did you giggle ? I missed the giggle. Please giggle 
again ? ” quizzically. 

“ Oh, dear ! do let me finish,” petulantly. 

“ Me?” 

“ Me ? How do you mean ? ” 

“ Why let you finish me.” 

“ What nonsense ! I mean my sentence.” 

“ Which is also my sentence ? ” wistfully. 

“ Sentence.” 

“ My condemnation.” 

“ No, my own ; for laughing and carrying on, as I’ve 
done to-night.” 

“ I hope I shall never forget this delightful night ! ” 

“ Neither of us should act as we have done. Why, 
it’s almost — almost as bad as — as — as ” 

“ Flirting?” 

“ Yes, thank you ! It’s an odious word, but ” 

“ Why, perhaps it was flirting.” 

“ Perhaps it was,” coldly. “ You should know.” 

“ So should you, Elsie.” 

“ I ! Oh, here we are at home ! ” she cried, looking 
up as they came abreast the boat-house. 

Sidney threw out the boat-hook and held the little 
craft fast to the tiny wharf, and then said : “ Now, let 
us finish this — this debate.” 

The moon was, by this time, floating in a compara- 
tively cloudless sky, and the girl could see, by the 
working of the muscles of his face, that her companion 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


61 


was in a determined mood. Sidney again took his 
seat beside her. She did not attempt to rise, so he 
continued : 

“ You accuse me of flirting, Elsie? ” 

“ No, oh, no, not accuse — but, Sidney, is it not pre- 
cious near it — when a young man is eternally devoted 
to one girl and lightly carries on with another,” she 
asked, pleadingly. 

“ Yes, it is. But oh, Elsie ! ” he cried, no longer able 
to restrain himself. “ I am eternally devoted to but 
one , and you are the one. Elsie ! Elsie ! ” he passion- 
ately cried, clasping her to his breast. “You are my 
only love ! My eternal love ! ” 

“ Sidney ! ” she could only gasp, and, trembling in 
the ecstasy of her rapture, struggled to free herself, so 
that she might speak. But he pressed her more closely, 
feeling that he held all the treasure of the world in this 
sweet creature. There were distant footsteps on the 
gravel-walk which led to the boat-house, and the girl 
heard them approaching. 

“ Oh, Sidney, do let me go ! There is some one 
coming. If it should be auntie. Listen ! ” 

“ Oh, my precious darling, tell me first that I am not 
mad ! that you were not flirting — only as true love 
flirts ! ” holding her pretty face, now pale as the rays 
of the moon, between his hands and looking passion- 
ately into her soft brown eyes. “Tell me that I have 
not lived to-night in a fool’s paradise — that you love 
me. That you will be my wife, Elsie ! ” 

She hesitated and cast down her eyes in confusion. 
That brief instant seemed an eternity to him, for the 
footsteps came nearer and nearer. 

“ Oh, do let me go ! do you not hear some one ? If 
we should be seen ! ” 


62 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ I will never let you go,” he replied, his brain in a 
mad whirl, “ until you tell me. Do you love me ? ” 

Her face softened, her gentle brown eyes were lifted 
to his, and became sweetly humid ; then she burst forth 
with such intensity of feeling and emotion as he had 
never thought her capable of. 

“ Love you, Sidney ! Yes, yes, yes ! more than I 
ever thought it possible to love ! ” 

Then impulsively her soft warm lips, sweet and 
tender as the petal of a rose, sought his, and for one 
blissful moment they were oblivious of the world. 

In the next they heard the melodious voice of Nelly 
Shy exclaim : “ Wal, I’d give ten dollars for my Kodak 
— and the sunlight ! It’s the — the — wal, the sweetest 
picture I’ve seen since I’ve been in England. Please 
don’t move — I’ll retire. I am ashamed of myself. I 
am really.” 

“ Oh, Miss Shy ! ” cried the girl in utter confusion. 
“ What will you think ! ” 

“ Don’t fret about me ! Concerning this affair I 
don’t think — I’m as incapable of giving evidence as a 
mummy. I’m dried up, from this on.” 

“ Ha, ha ! you’re a brick,” cried Sidney. 

“Thanks. But what have you done with Sir 
Richard ? Thrown him overboard so you could spoon 
by yourselves ? ” 

“ Oh, no, he was detained, and is to drive over later,” 
replied the lover. 

“ Oh, I’m glad to hear he’s safe.” 

The boat was housed, and the congenial trio made 
their way to the house. If one of them had happened 
to look back he would have seen Tom Pleet, sitting in 
his boat watching them with a face distorted with 
anger. For, after a little reflection, he had recognized 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


63 

Sidney’s voice, then turned back, followed the pair, and 
witnessed the love episode which so delighted Nelly. 

When Sir Richard returned, about one o’clock, his 
wife was not in a pleasant frame of mind. 

“ I’m surprised at you, Richard,” she said. “ What 
could you be thinking of to send a mere girl like Elsie 
home alone with a young man — a sailor, too. You 
know what sailors are ? ” 

“ I know what Sidney is — he is instinctively a 
gentleman, and doesn’t merit your indiscriminate sus* 
picion.” 

“ Fudge! Men are men. You cannot know his 
private character — and think of the impropriety.” 

Her spouse did not reply. 

Elsie had retired before her uncle returned. Before 
going, Miss Shy had joined her and said : 

“ Let me kiss you, dear. I feel so happy you’ve 
found him out — for he’s been in love with you all 
through. Oh ! I’m tickled to death ! Good-night, love. 
I wish you perpetual happiness. If I could only stay 
and watch your courtship — it would make me young 
again. Sweet, sweet dreams ! ” And the full-blown 
damask rose tenderly kissed the budding “ La France ” 
good-night. 


64 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


CHAPTER VIII. 

LADY BRATTLE OBJECTS. 

The next morning Nelly Shy left by an early train 
to catch the Dover express at Clapham Junction. 
Lady Brattle had been so preoccupied with the depart- 
ure of her enterprising guest that she had not noticed 
the change in Elsie. The ardent young lover chanced 
to find the girl of his heart in the conservatory, gather- 
ing a bouquet of roses for Miss Shy, so, snatching a 
kiss, he asked : 

“ May I tell Sir Richard this morning? ” 

“Yes, you audacious thief/’ she replied, mischievously 
dashing the dewy spray from the roses in his face. 
“ And I shall tell auntie after you have gone to town.” 

“ Must I go to town? ” 

“ I think you should,” was the reflective rejoinder. 

“ And leave you for a whole day ? ” 

“ Don’t you think it would — would give you a better 
opportunity of talking to Uncle Dick?” 

“ Perhaps it would,” Sidney answered, as she 
hastened away with the roses. 

So at ten o’clock Dane accompanied the Q. C. to town. 
When they were comfortably seated alone in a luxurious 
compartment of the train speeding on to Waterloo, the 
young fellow began : 

“ Sir Richard, I have a confession to make. I’ve 
fallen in love.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 65 

“ In love, Sidney ! ” cried his godfather, taken by 
surprise at the avowal. “ Pray, with whom ? ” 

“ With Elsie.” 

“ Elsie ! Elsie ! ” echoed the elder man, with a fal- 
tering voice, for his conscience smote him as he remem- 
bered his wife’s remarks of the night before. “ Dear 
me ! ” he continued, after keenly scrutinising the 
young fellow’s face. “ When did this happen ? ” 

“ Last night.” 

“ Oh ! On the river?” 

“Yes, I proposed and she accepted me. So — so, I 
seek your approval.” 

“ Well, well, well ! I never looked on you as a — a — 
well, a susceptible lad.” 

“ Nor I. When I came to visit you, Sir Richard, I 
considered myself impervious to love. I — I suppose 
I should have been so with any other girl but Elsie.” 

“ Oh, we all think that until the right one comes,” 
was Sir Richard’s rejoinder, with a faint smile on his 
face. 

“ I suppose we do. But I was vain enough to believe 
that I was superior to the average mortal in that 
respect ; but I find that I am not.” 

Sir Richard made no comment; in truth, he was re- 
flecting on what his wife would think of this revela- 
tion, and his face became troubled. 

“ Don’t you approve of it, Sir Richard ? ” asked Sid- 
ney, wistfully noting the other’s gravity. 

“ I can’t say that I do, to be frank with you. And 
yet, having regard to your welfare, I can’t say that I 
don’t. But, Sidney, the approval does not lie with me. 
My wife is Elsie’s guardian, and I have grave, very 
grave, doubts if she will sanction the union.” 

“ Whv ? ” 


66 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ That, my lad, I can’t explain to you now. But let 
the matter rest until this evening with the assurance 
that, personally, I have no objection.” 

“ Thank you, Sir Richard,” cried the young fellow in 
a burst of gratitude. But he took no interest in busi- 
ness that day ; he was too anxiously speculating on 
what Lady Brattle’s verdict would be. 

Meanwhile, about eleven o’clock, Mrs. Pleet called 
upon her neighbour, Lady Brattle, her fat countenance 
greatly distressed. 

“ I have something of the gravest importance to say 
to you, my dear,” said the chubby little woman, as she 
seated herself in the drawing-room. 

“ In regard to ” 

“ Your niece,” broke in Mrs. Pleet. “ You know she 
has been coquetting with Tom, and leading him on ” 

“ Pardon me, Mrs. Pleet, I don’t know anything of 
the kind,” said Lady Brattle, sternly. 

“Well, then, I do. She has driven the poor boy 
almost frantic. He has eaten hardly anything for three 
days — and all he has composed he has torn up. Pie’s 
so distracted with love ” 

“ That doesn’t concern me,” interrupted the other, 
with frigid hauteur. 

“ Oh, indeed,” replied Mrs. Pleet, with rising indigna- 
tion. “ Perhaps what he saw on the river last night 
may interest you,” she added, sneeringly. 

“ What did he see ? ” Lady Brattle asked with ap- 
prehension. 

“ Why, he saw your niece kissing and cuddling and 
carrying on like a common river-wench with that 
coarse young sailor.” 

Lady Brattle turned pale. “ I don’t believe it,” she, 
however, managed to gasp. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


67 

“ Whether you do or not, it is nevertheless true ! 
Tom would never have told me, but I saw that the 
poor boy was in great mental distress this morning, so 
I wormed it out of him. There ! ” 

“ It’s the invention of a jealous lunatic ! ” cried Lady 
Brattle, now crimson with mortification. 

“ It’s nothing but the truth ! The haughty jade is a 
deceitful little flirt ! She has deceived you ” 

“ I cannot allow you to speak of my niece in that 
way,” rejoined Lady Brattle, with resentful loftiness. 

“ Well, she is, she is, to lead Tom on, and then jilt 
him for this vulgar sailor.” 

Lady Brattle could endure this no longer. 

“ Mrs. Pleet,” she said, rising and moving towards 
the door with queenly hauteur, “ pray, let us end this 
painful interview.” 

“ You don’t mean that you want me to go ? ” 

“ I must ask you to excuse me,” was the answer of 
the irate Lady Brattle as she held the door for her de- 
parting guest and bowed disdainfully. 

“Very well, then!” So the brewer’s wife with- 
drew, and sped across the lawns in such an indignant 
flutter that she tripped on her skirts at every other 
step. 

After that interview, it is hardly necessary to say, 
the two ladies were not on visiting terms. Meanwhile, 
Lady Brattle paced the room in a fever of mortification 
and helpless wrath, and then sent for Elsie. 

When the girl entered, she read in her mother’s 
stern face what to expect. 

“ Elsie,” Lady Brattle began, “ you told me the 
other day you would always give me your confidence ; ” 
the speaker’s voice was painfully tremulous with con- 
strained anger. 


68 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Yes, mamma, I did.” 

“ But you have not done so,” was the stern reply. 

“ I was waiting for an opportunity to tell you this 
morning, mamma.” 

“You have been anticipated,” her mother said frig- 
idly ; “ but I will hear your version of the affair.” 

“ Affair, mamma ? Affair ! ” 

“ Yes, affair ; ” coldly receiving the girl’s attempt at 
a caress. 

“ There is no affair,” was the reply of innocent 
wonder. “ I — I — love Sidney, and he — he — loves me, 
and asked me to be his wife last night. That is all.” 

“ That is all ! ” echoed her mother. “ And you ac- 
cepted him ? ” 

“ I couldn’t help it, mamma. I love him.” 

“ Goodness gracious, child ! is that any reason why 
you should forget your promise to me ? Why did you 
not confide in me sooner ? ” 

“ I — I — did not know that he loved me — until — last 
night.” 

“ But you must have known your own feelings when 
you told me of Tom the other day.” 

“Yes, I did, and should have told you, but Sidney 
then seemed so — so indifferent to me ; though that was 
because he thought that I — I — liked Tom.” 

“ Oh, your innocence is simply maddening. It ap- 
pals me ! You have seriously compromised yourself! 
For that sneaking Tom followed you and saw all that 
passed. He has told his mother. She has been here 
with the story, and the Lord only knows where else 
she will carry it ! ” 

“Tom Pleet is not a gentleman, that is evident!” 
cried the girl, with blazing eyes. 

“ Oh, I care nothing about him. It’s the way you 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 69 

have compromised yourself with Sidney that annoys 
>» 

me. 

“ How can one compromise oneself with a man one 
intends to marry, mamma?” 

“ My dear, you exasperate me ! You cannot marry 
him. It’s madness to think of it ! ” 

“Cannot marry him! Why, mamma?” asked the 
girl, turning pale. 

“ Why ? why ? There are a thousand reasons. He’s 
a sailor. He cannot support you. He has nothing to 
live on but his pay, which is a mere trifle.” 

“ But he will have, in time, mamma.” 

“ But he is only a lieutenant, little above a common 
seaman.” 

“ That is no reason I should not wait for him.” 

“ His occupation leads him here and there all over 
the world. You do not know, my child, the moral 
life of sailors. In the nature of things, they cannot 
be constant to any woman.” 

“Sidney will be, mamma. He has never loved be- 
fore.” 

“ My dear, your simplicity is very refreshing ; but at 
present it provokes me. I tell you, once for all, you 
can never marry him.” 

“ Mamma? ” was the girl’s pathetic rejoinder, as she 
gazed at her mother, with tears floating in her tender 
brown eyes. “ Never? ” she asked, after a pause, caused 
by a deep-drawn sob. 

“ Never,” replied her mother decisively. “You think 
me heartless, my dear, but I will not permit you to 
pass through the married misery I have passed through ! 
Left alone for months together, with a heart yearning 
for love, and eating itself out with mistrust and jeal- 
ousy.” 


70 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ But, mamma, I can never be jealous of Sidney. He 
is truth itself.” 

“ So I thought, my child, of the man I loved ; but 
he repaid my devotion with base deception. Ah, 
Elsie ! I loved as intensely as you do, but my early 
life was wrecked, and by my own folly.” 

She did not tell the girl that the man she had loved 
so blindly was not her father. 

The mother and daughter talked on for a long time, 
until Elsie passionately cried : “ Well, mamma, my first 
duty is to obey you ; but I have promised Sidney to be 
his wife, and I shall be, if he ever claims me.” 

Lady Brattle recognized in this defiant, indomitable 
spirit some of the Gallic traits of the girl’s father, and 
she feared its purport. 

The dinner that evening was a painful function to all 
concerned, in marked contrast with the animation of 
the evening gatherings that had gone before. 

Lady Brattle acquainted her husband with all the 
facts before the meal, and together they decided on the 
course that must be taken. 

Sir Richard Brattle dreaded his wife’s tongue. 
There was no counsel at the bar his superior in keen, 
cutting sarcasm, in penetrating ridicule, and in lashing, 
condemnatory phrase, barbed with stinging satire. 
But he loved his wife devotedly, and, therefore, like 
many another man, in the gallantry of his nature, he 
could not retort with the same weapons he would use 
so effectually against a masculine adversary. 

“ Sidney must leave to-morrow,” said his wife, as she 
joined the Q. C. in his study after dinner. 

“ To-morrow ! Oh, come, my dear, that is too ” 

“Yes, to-morrow. No man with any judgment 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 71 

would have introduced such a young rake into his 
family.” 

“ Rake ! Betsy, you are talking nonsense ! ” 

“ He must go, I say, and at once. He’s not a fit 
husband for Elsie. A perfectly upright man would 
have spoken to you before entrapping a silly girl into 
a promise of marriage.” 

“ Elsie does not deny she likes him, does she ? ” the 
husband asked, with his suave, cross-questioning manner. 

“ Of course, she likes him — that’s the danger.” 

“ Then the trapping, as usual, was not entirely one- 
sided.” 

“Fudge! You must tell him you cannot counte- 
nance the — the proposal.” 

“ But I do, Betsy. I see no reason why, in time, 
they should not marry.” 

“You have nothing to do with it — I am the girl’s 
guardian ! ” cried his wife, in a burst of uncontrolled 
rage. 

“ Oh, very well. Then you tell him. I certainly 
shall not send him away because he has dared to cast 
loving eyes on a girl who must have also made eyes at 
him. He is my godson, and as dear to me as your 
niece is to you. He shall remain here as long as he 
pleases. If you don’t like it, you can take the girl off 
to — to — on a visit to some of your friends. That is 
final.” 

Sir Richard got up as if to leave the room, then his wife 
fell back on tearful persuasion, and ultimately wheedled 
him into acting as her counsel in the matter. So Sidney 
was sent for, and when he joined them the counsel 
was deeply moved. 

“ My lad,” said his godfather, in a kindly tone, “ I 
said to you this morning I had grave doubts as to my 


1 * 


HIS EGYPT! A AT WIFE. 


wife’s approval of your affection for Elsie. She now 
wishes me to say that she cannot sanction your mar- 
riage with her niece. Not that she has any objection 
to you personally, but because your means and your 
vocation, are — in her opinion — not calculated to lead to 
a happy marriage. For you must of necessity be away 
from your wife for long periods. And ” 

“ But, in time,” broke in Sidney, “ I hope to im- 
prove my means, and leave the navy, as you know.” 

“ Is it not selfish,” observed Lady Brattle, “ to ask a 
girl to wait for you such an indefinite time.” 

“ It may be, but ” 

“Just so. It is,” she interrupted. “Therefore I 
must ask you to consider this affair at an end, in justice 
to her.” 

“ Does Elsie wish it to be so ? ” 

“ Yes. Elsie accepts my advice. It is a foolish, im- 
petuous business, and I trust in your honour to pursue 
the subject no further.” 

“Very well, Lady Brattle,” said the young fellow, 
his lips and square jaw firmly set. “ It shall be as you 
wish, and you may rely on my word. But only until I 
have bettered my condition. If then -” 

“ Pardon me, I cannot discuss the future of my niece. 
She is young, her girlish views may change,” said Lady 
Brattle decisively. 

“You may rely on me until they do,” said Sidney 
pointedly. 

Later in th^ evening Sir Richard remarked to Sid- 
ney, “ My wife and Elsie have decided to pay a visit to 
some friends. They are leaving in the morning, so, 
my boy, this Unfortunate business need not deprive me 
of the pleasure of your company.” 

“ Oh, Sir Richard, it would be painful for me to re- 


HIS EGYPT! A AT WIPE. 


73 


main after — after — well, I must say it — the happy days 
I’ve spent here in Elsie's company. So, if you will ex- 
cuse me, I would rather go than stay.” 

So, with Sir Richard and his belongings, Sidney 
took his leave the next morning. The formal good- 
bye with Elsie — for Lady Brattle stood near — was in 
marked contrast with the blissful kiss he had stolen in 
the conservatory the morning before. 

When they were speeding on to Waterloo, Sir Rich- 
ard took from his pocket a little paper-box. 

“ Elsie told me to give you this,” he said. 

Sidney opened the box, and found a white rose, but 
he delicately concealed it from his companion. 


n 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE . 


CHAPTER IX. 

EN ROUTE FOR EGYPT — LORD LASHBURN APPEARS 
INTERESTED. 

On a balmy November evening, six months after Sid- 
ney Dane’s departure from Oxley House, Sir Richard, 
his wife and Elsie, were among the passengers on a P. 
and O. steamer sailing into the Bay of Naples. They 
were on their way to spend the winter in Egypt, for 
Sir Richard felt that he required a complete rest after 
two exceedingly busy (and profitable) terms. Lady 
Brattle had eagerly welcomed her husband’s proposal 
to visit the Levant, because she hoped to add a chap- 
ter or two to her book on the “ Domestic Life of 
Turkish and Egyptian Women.” There was, however, 
another reason for travel, which was to arouse Elsie 
from the lassitude that had come over her once cheer- 
ful nature after Sidney’s dismissal. While visiting 
Lady August in the early autumn, accompanied by 
Elsie, there they had met Lord Lashburn, who was on 
a visit to England. During their sojourn together Lord 
Lashburn had become so interested in Elsie that it 
somehow happened the heir to the Earldom of Mul- 
vaney was now returning to his Egyptian diplomatic 
post on the same steamer. 

As the vessel ploughed through the placid waters of 
the bay, Elsie sat in a steamer chair, gazing at the end- 
less trail of smoke drifting away from the cone of Vesu- 


HIS EGYPTIAN" WIFE. 


75 

vius. Lord Lashburn sat attentively beside her, point- 
ing out the sites of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other 
objects of interest, which were quite familiar to him. 

“ Oh, it must be awful to look into the crater of 
Vesuvius,” cried the girl. “ Uncle Dick says we must 
see it, though. Have you ever looked down? ” 

“Yes, once. That was enough. It quite satisfied 
my curiosity.” 

“ Why?” 

“ Oh, it’s about as near to Hades as one can get in 
this world. The suffocating, sulphurous gases, the un- 
earthly rumbling, and awful volleying, and the hot, 
sticky vapours, cause you to remember your sins in a 
way that is both uncomfortable and appalling.” 

“ Won’t you go up with us, then ? ” 

“ Oh, I may, just to see how it moves you.” 

“ Do you think I have so many sins? ” 

“ Oh, no, no ; far from it ; but neither have you any 
emotions ! ” He was gazing into her eyes with as much 
intensity as thirty years of a life of restless, sensual 
pleasure could. 

“ Why do you say that ? ” asked the girl, looking 
earnestly at him. 

“ Because you haven’t shown any, either of pleasure 
or pain, since I’ve known you.” 

“You must not say that, Lord Lashburn, or I may 
show some of pain.” 

Lady Brattle saw his devoted attitude, and carelessly 
remarked to her husband. 

“ I fear Lord Lashburn is becoming rather too atten- 
tive to Elsie.” 

“ I’m glad you do, my dear,” he said drily. 

“ Why ? How do you mean, Richard ? ” 

“ I’m glad you ‘ fear ’ his attentions; I thought you 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


76 

approved of them. I’m pleased to hear you don’t.” 
The sarcasm was not lost on his spouse. 

Now this was not what Lady Brattle expected, for 
she feared his lordship was not sincere, but she hoped 
he might be. 

It is only just to her maternal instincts to say that, 
had she known the details of his life, she would have 
repelled his attentions with a shudder of revulsion. 
For after leaving Eton, as a dull, backward youth, 
Lord Lashburn had been sent round the world in care 
of a clerical tutor who winked at his foibles, because 
they suited his own love of ease and pleasure. The 
consequence was that in five years he returned from 
abroad a purposeless, premature rout, no less dull than 
when he started, his morality blunted by association 
with the cooing, twittering creatures of the Orient, 
whose favours were quickly won, and as lightly lost. 
In the last ten years — he was now thirty — Lord Lash- 
burn had so intemperately imbibed all the sweets of 
life that every delicacy now seemed to his enervated 
palate as dry and juiceless as an orange in August. 
He had exhausted every sensual sensation, and only 
that of the eye and brain were left to him. He had no 
inclination for gambling or speculation of any kind ; 
the only games he favoured were chess and whist, with 
a decided preference for the scientific, slowly-develop- 
ing strategy of the former. He was a slow, methodi- 
cal, slightly-built, weak-faced little man, with a tawny 
wisp of a moustache that would not curl, though he 
was constantly twisting and torturing it. His fine, 
mouse-coloured hair, was rapidly thinning at the crown 
of his head, while his complexion — which as a boy, had 
been rich and ruddy — had now the dull, mottled dys- 
peptic appearance of a badly boiled ham. He fancied 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


77 


himself a coming diplomatist ; he was innately court- 
eous, and moved and spoke with an habitual air of ex- 
hausted energy. But he was the pet of his aunt, the 
Countess of Killcutty, who made him a princely allow- 
ance, on which he largely depended. On his recent 
visit to England, she had seriously urged him to find a 
wife ; hence his marked attention to Elsie. 

We need not follow our party on their travels in 
and about Naples, Rome, Athens, and Constantinople, 
where Lord Lashburn parted with them ; but before 
doing so he relieved Lady Brattle’s anxiety by asking 
her permission to pay his addresses to Elsie. 

At Constantinople they were joined by Nelly Shy 
who continued with them on their tour up the Nile. 

When they reached Alexandria, in February, Lord 
Lashburn was domiciled at the Legation, and our party 
took up their abode at the Palace Hotel. 

Before the British bombardment this hotel had been 
the palace of Bazan Pasha. It still fronts on the bay, 
not far from the road which leads to Remlah. It has 
beautiful gardens, filled with Oriental shrubbery, once 
sacred to the secluded walks of the ladies of the harem. 
The mellow, cream-coloured walls of the old palace are 
striped and fantastically frescoed in soft chocolate and 
saffron tints; while here and there the plastering still 
bears the marks of the English shot and shell ; for the 
shrewd Swiss proprietor has found these dilapidations 
a source of interest and delight to the British tourist — 
hence a profit to himself. 

Two days after Sir Richard and his party arrived in 
Cleopatra’s city, H. M. S. Psyche steamed into the bay. 
Sir Richard and his godson had continued their corre- 
spondence, and the Q. C. had timed his arrival in Alex- 
andria so that he might meet Sidney ; for the young 


HIS EGYPTIAN- WIFE . 


78 

lieutenant had kept him informed of the Psyche s pro- 
posed cruise. The electric gun-attachment had been 
sold to the French and Italian governments for a sub- 
stantial sum, so Sir Richard was desirous of congratu- 
lating his protege .” 

A quarter of a mile further along the beach, there 
was another Pasha’s villa. This also bore the marks 
of the British bombardment, for, at the time, it was 
occupied by one of the chief supporters of the rebel, 
Arabi Pasha. 

On the third morning after her arrival in Alexandria, 
Nelly Shy had been for a walk up the Remlah road, 
returning by the beach with her Kodak strapped over 
her shoulder. In the course of her tramp she suddenly 
came upon three Egyptian ladies strolling along the 
sands. They were accompanied by a short bullet- 
headed Nubian, who, as soon as he saw Nelly ap- 
proaching, grunted something to them. They quickly 
drew their yashmaks over their pretty noses, for the 
veils had evidently been removed, as if they were still 
in the seclusion of the harem. 

“Good-morning, ladies,” said Nelly affably. “Tak- 
ing in a little ozone, eh ? ” 

No one replied, the smaller of the three giggled, and 
the negro grunted. So Nelly addressed them in 
French, the dusky attendant meanwhile scowling and 
motioning her to go away. 

Paying no heed to him, Nelly again asked: 

“ Can’t any of you speak French or English ? ” 

After a little hesitation, a slender, golden-haired 
creature answered in perfect English : 

“ We are not allowed to speak to strangers.” 

“ Oh, ho ! then, why can’t this chocolate-coloured 
coon answer for you ?” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


79 


The person indicated had been hurriedly leading the 
way to a door in a high cream-coloured wall, which 
came down to within fifty yards of the beach. As the 
American continued to accompany the ladies towards 
the garden door, the dusky attendant regarded her 
with a fierce scowl, accompanied now and again by a 
guttural protest. 

When the latter reached the gate, he dexterously 
slipped the primitive wooden lock and passed his 
charges in ; then, barring the way, he indicated, by a 
vehement gesture, his desire that Nelly should go about 
her business. The latter, not appearing to take the 
hint, he abruptly slammed the door in her face. 

“ Wal, if that don’t beat all ! I suppose that’s 
Egyptian politeness,” cried the American, in disgust. 

She was turning away when the door was again 
opened, and a little Egyptian woman, with small, cun- 
ning, bead-like eyes, sallow, parched skin, and deeply 
wrinkled features, presented herself. 

“ Hallo ! How d’ye do ? ” cried Nelly. 

“ What did ze madam want ? ” asked the woman, in 
a tone of resentment. 

“ Whose ranch is this ? ” 

“ Roonch ? I no comprise. What eez roonch?’' 

“ Do you speak English or French ? ” 

“ A leetle of ze French — and zome of ze Anglish.” 

“ What place is this ? ” 

“ It is the villa of Zaras Pasha.” 

“ Oh, and who are the gals I saw just now ? ” 

“ Ze ladies of ze harem.” 

“ Harem ! Did you say harem ? ” eagerly enquired 
Nelly. “ Are you in charge ? ” 

The woman grinned and nodded assent. 

“ Who is the queen or favourite wife? ” 


So 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Runa is ze favourite — at zis time.” 

“ Oh, Runa, eh? I’d like to call on her. Here, 
present my card.” 

Nelly took a card from her case, and read to the 
wondering attendant, “ ‘ Nelly Shy, Chicago Ladies' 
Journal. Special Correspondent.’ I’m going round 
the world,” she added. “ Present my compliments to 
Madame Runa, and say I should like to call upon her.” 

The woman shook her head and smiled deprecat- 
ingly. 

“ Won’t she see me ? ” 

“Ze Pasha will not allow ees ladies to know Franks,” 
was the reply, with a cunning leer. 

“ But I’m an American.” 

“ It is ze same.” 

“ Look here — what’s your name ? ” 

“ Zeyneb.” 

“ Wal, see here, Zeyneb ! I've got to see this harem. 
I’ll make it a matter of business.” The American took 
from her purse a crisp five pound note, which had a 
surprising effect on Zeyneb’s glistening black eyes. 

“ This note is yours if you get me in. Catch on? ” 

The Egyptian menial looked at the note longingly, 
covetously, but sadly shook her dusky head. 

“See here,” continued Nelly, “don’t your Pasha 
never go away for a night or so ? ” 

“ Oui,oui ! " Zeyneb’s face brightened. “ He go to- 
morrow night to the Palace to dine with ze Khedive.” 

“ Ha! can’t you let me see round, then? ” 

“ I will zee. Hush ! Abloo is coming — put away ze 
money,” she cried, as she heard footsteps approaching 
on the gravel-walk inside the wall. The robust negro 
again appeared at the door, and made impatient signs 
for Zeyneb to come within. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


81 


“ What’s his name?” asked Nelly. 

“ Abloo,” replied the other. 

“ How d’ye do, Abloo? Charming weather for 
February.” But Abloo, making no reply, she turned 
to Zeyneb and asked : “ He’s a leetle bashful, ain't 

he?” 

“ He no bashful — he no nozing.” 

“ Fine-looking man, though. Your husband, I pre- 
sume ? ” 

“ Husband ! ” exclaimed Zeyneb, with a look of min- 
gled pity and contempt. “ Ha, ha, ha! he eez nozing 
— same as ze — ah — what you call him. Ha, do not 
comprise ze Anglish word.” 

“ What a fine model he’d make for a Roman slave. 
Just stand thar a minute, Abloo, my boy. I want your 
photograph.” 

Miss Shy unslung her Kodak, and moved slowly for- 
ward to focus the negro, when, with a howl of terror, 
he placed his hands before his face and fled through 
the door, an indescribable look of fear on his dusky 
visage. 

“ Wal, what ails the coon ! did he think I was going 
to shoot ? ” 

Zeyneb did not laugh ; she was not quite sure of the 
mysterious box herself ; indeed, she regarded it with 
mistrust, until the American had replaced it on her 
shoulder-strap. 

“ When shall I see you again ? ” she asked the mys- 
tified attendant. 

“ You come here to zis door at sunset. Eef ze Pasha 
ees go, I will show you ze harem.” 

“ All right, I’ll be here. Now, if you treat me 
straight, I’ll make it two notes instead of one. See? ” 

“ I comprise, madam. Remember, at sunset ! ” 

6 


82 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


So, with this understanding, Zeyneb disappeared 
through the doorway. 

“ Great snakes, what a find ! ” cried Nelly to herself 
as she made her way towards the hotel. “ What an 
article this will make ! I see the head-lines in the 
Journal. ‘ In the harem. — A life of sublime sensations l 
By one who has been thar\ Oh, I must get thar’ 
if I have to marry Mr. Zaras Pasha to accomplish it.” 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE . 


83 


CHAPTER X. 

SIDNEY MEETS OLD FRIENDS IN CLEOPATRA’S CITY. 

When Sidney Dane came ashore, he went at once 
to the British consulate to learn at which hotel Sir 
Richard and his family were staying. He had obtained 
the address, and with Surgeon Dolby was sauntering 
along the Rue de Rosetta, on the lookout for a con- 
veyance, when he was hailed in French from a passing 
carriage. The horses were stopped, and the occupant 
who wore the turban and garb of Pasha motioned for 
Sidney to come up. 

“ How do you fare, my young hero? You see, I 
know you,” cried the personage in the carriage, as Sid- 
ney and his companion drew near. He spoke good 
English, but with a marked French accent. 

“ Ah, I zee, you do not remember me,” offering his 
plump jewelled hand over the side of the carriage. 

“ Ha! Yes, yes, I do,” exclaimed Sidney. “It is 
Commander Le Zaras,” accepting the hand with a 
hearty grasp. 

“ It is ze same. But no longer commander. I am 
now Zaras Pasha. I have leave Burmah two years ago, 
and have take service with his highness, ze Khedive. 
I am commodore of ze Egyptian navy — zat is proposed 
by his majesty.” 

“ Oh, indeed ! I’m glad to hear it. That accounts 


84 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


for this native costume, which prevented me from 
recognizing you.” 

“ How long do you stay here in Alexandria, my dear 
friend ? ” 

“ About a week,” replied Sidney. 

“ When can you come to dine with me ?” 

“ Oh, any day. You remember my friend Dolby 
here ; he and I are ashore on a little business.” 

“ Ah, yes, and for a leetle spree, eh ? Ha, ha, ha ! 

I know you boys ! ” said Le Zaras, holding up his plump 
forefinger, his clear merry black eyes twinkling with 
roguish mirth. “ Ha, yes, I know you lieutenants.” 

“ Pardon me, monsieur,” broke in Mr. Dolby, “ but 
you don’t know our friend Dane ; he is a perfect 
Joseph, I assure you. I never knew him to spree.” 

“But he may become a David in such a fruitful land 
as zis,” rejoined the Pasha, with a hearty chuckle. 

Sidney deprecated this intended compliment, and 
they talked on other matters for sometime ; the Pasha 
proffering his influence in any way that would make 
their sojourn in the city agreeable. 

Victor Le Zaras was now a great, fat man, with large, 
bright black eyes, and a long, tapering beard, which 
covered a goodly portion of his breast. His complex- 
ion was bright and fresh, with that light olive tinge 
peculiar to the natives of southern France. One saw 
at a glance that in his younger days he had been a 
handsome man. His once dark, glossy hair was now 
streaked with grey ; but there was not a sign of bald- 
ness ; indeed the graceless old scamp carried his sixty 
years remarkably well. Like most corpulent men, he 
always appeared in the best of humours, and told shady, 
cerulean stories, and roared at them, with that rollick- 
ing, jovial laugh of his, and with such contagious hearti- 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


35 

ness, that it was impossible for any man of the world 
to be dull in his company. He was undoubtedly clever, 
keen and penetrating, though his active movements 
and genial animation were in marked contrast to his 
ponderous frame and puffy visage. 

“ Then will you dine with me to-morrow ? ” asked 
Zaras, as they were about to part. 

“You are really very kind ” 

“ It ees not kindness, it ees gratitude. I am not what 
you call a good man, but I never forget an obligation. 
You saved my life, so you are dear to me as ze apple 
of my eye.” 

“ Oh, don’t speak of that,” replied Sidney. “ But 
where shall I find you, Monsieur Le Zaras?” 

“ At the Villa Karava, on the Remlah road. 
But I will send my carriage for you. What hotel is 
yours ? ” 

“ I shall be at the Palace Hotel, I presume,” answered 
Dane. 

“ Ah, that is near. I will send for you to-morrow, 
or the next day. Adieu ! or, as we say here, Allah be 
with you ! ” 

“ Adieu ! ” rejoined Sidney, returning the Pasha’s 
graceful salute as he drove off. 

At the Palace Hotel Sidney found Sir Richard seated 
on the verandah, gazing at the sea. The genial ad- 
vocate received the young fellow with demonstrations 
of genuine pleasure. 

The Q. C. had met Mr. Dolby in London, so, while 
the latter was arranging for their rooms, Sidney eagerly 
enquired for the ladies. 

“ Oh, her ladyship is about somewhere. She is busy 
on that book of hers just now — in her room, perhaps,” 
answered the Q. C. 


86 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Well, Sir Richard, how have you enjoyed your 
tour so far ? ” asked Sidney. 

“ Hem ! — well, moderately — and mildly. Hem ! well 
you see — my wife is with me,” replied Sir Richard 
with a dry suggestive cough, and a facetious look of 
martyrdom, half real and half feigned. 

Sidney wisely ignored the disparaging allusion to 
Lady Brattle, and remarked : 

“You certainly deserve a holiday after your arduous 
duties.” 

“ I believe you ! I was exceedingly busy last term ; 
got through five breach-of-promise and three nauseous 
divorce cases ; so I really needed some fresh air. 
Naples was light and gay, suited me to a T, but — my 
wife. Venice, Rome, Constantinople, full of gay possi- 
bilities, but — my wife. Now I am in Egypt, a veritable 
land of promise, overrun with soft-eyed Syrians, but — 
well — my wife. Now take my advice, Sidney, and 
never get married until you are forty ; certainly not until 
you have twice visited the chief cities of the world, 
and are perfectly satisfied that there’s nothing more in 
the shape of female loveliness you care to flirt with.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha! ” laughed his godson, “ I am quite satis- 
fied on that score already, Sir Richard.” 

“ But you are not forty, my boy.” 

“ By which you would imply I am incapable of 
judging.” 

“Just so, but I mean no disparagement.” 

“ That is discouraging.” After a serious pause, the 
young fellow continued, with a note of anxiety in his 
voice: 

“ Do you know, sir, I hoped to secure your as- 
sistance to— to obtain what you find so — so burden- 
some — a wife.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


87 

“ But I’m generally considered of more service in 
getting rid of one. And, I must confess, I prefer that 
part of my practice to the one you propose.” 

“ Ha, yes, I know, but ” 

Sidney left the sentence unfinished, having a vague 
feeling that he was being discouraged for some reason. 
They sat for some minutes silently gazing across the 
semicircular bay, its placid blue waters without a 
ripple, and its slovenly native craft moving slowly over 
its surface. 

At length the young fellow could no longer keep 
back the question that was uppermost in his mind. 

“ I hope Elsie is well ? ” he asked. “ Is she here ? ” 

“ Yes, oh, yes. I saw her not long since in the draw- 
ing-room with Lord Lashburn.” 

“ Lord Lashburn ? ” 

“ Yes, do you know him ? ” 

“ No, but I’ve heard of him,” answered Sidney, 
glancing enquiringly at his godfather. 

“ He came from England in the same steamer with 
us. He took a great fancy to Elsie, and my wife took 
a greater fancy to him — or possibly to his prospective 
title and estates ; for he is the only son of the Earl of 
Mulvaney,” 

Sidney was taken aback with this revelation, but 
only for an instant. 

“ You know, sir, I only gave up my — my attentions to 
your niece conditionally, until I had improved my — my 
monetary position. As you know, I have now a — a — 
well, a modest fortune from the sale of our patent, with 
prospects of still more. So, frankly speaking, I want 
permission to address your niece.” 

“ Take my advice, my boy, and don’t,” said his god- 
father with a kindly voice. “ You know Lady Brattle 


88 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


is her legal guardian, and dislikes sailors. You have 
perhaps heard that my predecessor was a naval officer.” 

“Yes, I have heard something of it. But, Sir 
Richard, have I your permission?” 

“ With all my heart, my lad. But remember I am 
only a junior counsel in this case. Lady Brattle is my 
senior — my leader. Egad ! I may say judge, jury and 
supreme court of appeal, all in one.” 

“Then you consider the verdict doubtful?” asked 
Sidney with a grave face. 

“ Very. I’m sorry to say, I do. But are you quite 
sure of the co-respondent — hem ! — I mean the fair peti- 
tioner ? ” 

“ I’ll stake my life on Elsie’s constancy.” 

“So would I. No flattery will spoil her, no brilliant 
title allure her from the man she has set her heart 
upon ; I feel sure of that.” 

“ Sir Richard, you give me hope — your words fill my 
heart with joy. Though I knew she ” 

“ But are you the man — hush ! here comes Karava 
Bey. We’ll talk of this later.” 

At this juncture a thick-set, middle-aged Egyptian, 
with a spotted, dull, saffron complexion, and close-cut, 
blue-black hair and beard, sauntered along the verandah 
and joined them. 

“ Ha, Karava ! I have been expecting you all the 
morning,” said Sir Richard, rising and extending his 
hand. 

“ I was detained at the Embassy,” replied the other 
apologetically. 

“ This is Sidney Dane, son of an old friend of mine,” 
said the Q. C., presenting them. “ And this, Sidney, is 
Karava Bey, member of the Khedive’s Corps Diplo- 
matique in London.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


89 


“ We have met before, I think,” said Karava. 

“ Yes,” replied Sidney, “at the Admiralty banquet 
in London.” 

“You are right,” said Karava. Then looking 
enquiringly from one to the other, he remarked : “ I 
hope I did not interrupt some confidence, some 
business? ” 

“ No, no,” replied Sir Richard, with a humorous 
glance at Sidney. “I was only advising my young 
friend not to commit the folly of matrimony, but he is 
determined to take a wife.” 

“ Oh, poor fellow ! ” observed Karava, “ I pity you if 
you must select one on the English system — from the 
puzzling roulette of society.” 

“ Oh, you grizzly old cynic ! I believe your nation 
are all sceptics,” said the jovial little Q. C. 

“Is your Egyptian custom any better?” asked 
Sidney. 

“ I venture to think so.” 

“ Less chances of drawing a blank, eh ? ” put in Sir 
Richard. 

“ Yes, for an Egyptian, you know, is allowed four 
wives — — ” 

“ And may draw four blanks, instead of one,” said 
the Q. C., as he offered Karava and Sidney each a 
cigar from his case. 

“ I think I have told you,” began Karava, after 
lighting his weed, “ that my father was a Greek banker, 
my mother an Egyptian, and I was born and bred in 
the harem. When I came of age my father bought 
me four beautiful Circassian girls ” 

“ A very obliging father, I’m sure,” observed his 
elder companion drily. 

“ It was then a custom ” 


9 ° 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ The sons in England usually attend to that delicate 
matter themselves/’ broke in Sidney. 

“ And when the governor finds it out,” continued Sir 
Richard, “ he is generally so ill-bred as to make a row 
about it.” 

“ Piff ! piff ! it is so all over the world. But, listen ! 
By written contract I made the most favoured one of 
the four my legitimate wife — the others were only 
odalisques.” 

“ Hum ! ” mused the advocate, “odalisques ! Merely 
a polite synonym for our prohibited plurality. I see, 
I see.” 

“ As I grew older,” continued Karava, “ I bought 
other girls, ostensibly as maids to my wife ” 

“ Of course, of course ! ” broke in Sir Richard with 
facetious banter. “ This same old game is practiced in 
France, I’ve heard.” 

“ Will you let me finish, you satirical old rout ? ” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! But I say, Karava, you pass for a 
bachelor in London ; where are your wives ? Oh ! oh ! 
Fie! fie!” 

The Egyptian shrugged his shoulders indifferently, 
and replied : “ Gone ! Where, I do not know or 

care ? ” 

“ Ah,” sighed the Q. C., “ that is the charm of your 
religion. I fear I sometimes wish I could shake off 
mine as lightly.” 

“ When that rascal Arabi organized the revolt in ’82, 
my father was induced to support him, and was con- 
sequently ruined. He died almost a beggar in Athens, 
and our family was scattered to the winds.” 

“What a complete wreck that vagabond made of 
everything.” 

“Yes, at the time of the bombardment that villa you 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


9 1 


see yonder,” pointing along the bay, “ with the high 
striped walls running down to the bay, was my home.” 

“ Oh, indeed ! ” exclaimed the Q. C. sympathetically. 
“ What a romance your life has been, Karava.” 

“ That door you see in the wall leads to the harem 
gardens. As a boy I have often bathed on the beach 
yonder, by moonlight, surrounded by my father’s, 
odalisques. Now my home is in the possession of a 
gross parasite of the Khedive. Pah ! ” 

After a pause, Sir Richard asked : “ Is it true that 

in your high-class circles the groom never sees the face 
of the bride until the wedding-night ? ” 

“ It was once so. A friend of mine had a queer 
experience ; he was terribly sold by the KJiatbeh ” 

“ Khatbeh ? What is she — the mother-in-law ? ” 

“ No, a professional match-maker ; the class are the 
most consummate liars we have in Egypt.” 

“ Ah, well, much the same thing. Well?” 

“ It was in that very harem-garden, where Mademoi- 
selle Elsie is going,” pointing to the girl as she passed 
through the gate indicated, which was some little dis- 
tance from them. 

Sidney saw his divinity, and his face brightened ; he 
threw away his cigar and hastily rising said : “ I hope 
you will excuse me, Monsieur Karava, but I have not 
seen Miss Lisle yet,” and with this apology he hastened 
after her. 

The two elder men exchanged glances of amuse- 
ment. 

“ Our lieutenant is sailing for the haven of matri- 
mony, eh ? ” asked Karava. 

“ Yes, yes, but he’s steering by the magnet of love.” 

“ And yet he may come to grief in the fogs of in- 
fatuation.” 


92 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Not with such a pretty beacon, you everlasting 
pessimist ! Well, let us get back to the story.” 

While Karava went on with his story, Sidney fol- 
lowed Elsie. She had got fairly into the garden before 
he overtook her, and it seemed to him that he had 
never seen so much grace in the movement of a woman 
before. As he drew near, she turned, and with a start 
and gasp of surprise, cried : 

“ Why, Sidney ! ” Then with a more demure, re- 
served tone continued: “ How do you do, Mr. Dane? 
Why, how you startled me. I — I had no idea it was 
you.” 

“ How do you do? ” he said warmly, as they shook 
hands. 

“ Why, what a surprise, Mr. Dane ? ” 

“ I hope a welcome one, Elsie ? ” 

“ Oh, certainly. I’m always pleased to see old 
friends. Have you seen Uncle Dick?” 

“Yes, I’ve just left him with Karava. We were 
smoking on the verandah as you came out.” 

“ Oh, Karava ! That horrid, cynical man ! Was he 
telling a story? ” 

“ Yes, he was ; why do you ask ? ” 

“ Oh, because Uncle Dick says he has such a fund of 
Oriental anecdotes, but they are only fit for masculine 
ears, Auntie says.” 

“ So I should judge from what I heard.” 

“ What story was he telling you ? ” she asked with 
maidenly inconsistency and mother Eve’s curiosity. 

“ Pray, don’t ask me,” said he, evasively. “ I really 
didn’t pay much attention.” 

“ Oh, I know you men always do. Please tell me.” 
They were seated under a great spreading palm, in a 
snug corner of the old harem garden, with myriads of 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


93 

Eastern flowers bursting into bloom, and exhaling 
delicious odours about them. 

“ Please do tell me what Karava said,” she poutingly 
asked again. 

“ Well then,” he replied, “ he said an Egyptian lover 
never sees or speaks to his sweetheart until they are 
alone on their — er — on the bridal — hum — their honey- 
moon.” 

“ Oh, I shouldn’t like that,” said Elsie. 

“ Nor I, either.” 

“ I don’t think it so nice as the English way, do 
you ? ” 

“ It is not to my fancy. Lovers must be truly blind 
in Egypt.” 

“ Ha, ha ! A sort of love in Egyptian darkness.” 

The thin ice of restraint was now broken. 

“ Well, some English lovers don’t object to darkness,” 
said the young fellow quizzically. 

“ Do you think not ? ” 

“ I seem to remember two who didn’t.” 

Elsie looked grave at this, so he hastened to say : 
“ Just think, there’s no flirting at tennis, here.” 

“ No cross-country driving.” 

“No moonlight walks together.” 

“ No strolling by the river together — as we did at 
Oxley House.” 

The personal pronoun in conjunction with the word 
lovers encouraged the young fellow, so he went on 
with his old buoyant gaiety, which she liked so well. 

“ No drifting down the shady reaches, whispering 
words of tenderness, to the lulling rhythm of the 
rustling leaves — as the novelist says.” 

“And no ruthless reprimand from your aunt when 
that sweet time is o’er — as the novelist neglects to say.” 


94 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Ha, ha, ha ! They have no lovers’ quarrels here.” 

“ Consequently no tears of regret when he has gone,” 
she said musingly. 

“ Oh ! Do girls have such regrets ? ” 

“ As the novelist says ” she hastened to add, 

archly avoiding his admiring gaze. 

“ No sweet making-up after quarrels — no kissing 
away her tears.” 

“ Kissing away tears ? Oh ! ” Her soft brown eyes 
now meeting his with a searching, jealous glance. 
“ Have you kissed away tears? ” 

“ Eh ? Oh ! — as the novelist says,” he answered gaily 

But she was not satisfied ; she knew he had never 
kissed away her tears, for she had treasured every 
endearment, so she continued seriously, — 

“ But did you ever make up like that ? ” 

“ I ? Oh, no. How could I at sea ? ” 

“ But you spoke as if it were an echo of the past. 
Never ? ” 

“ Never — but I should like to.” 

“ Like to what ? ” pensively kicking the tiny shingle 
on the path. 

“ Kiss away the tears — your tears,” he said tenderly, 
yearning to clasp the sweet girl in his arms, for he read 
the signs of pleasurable emotion as well as if they had 
been naval signals. 

She looked up, and, meeting his ardent gaze, said : 

“ Ah, but we shall not quarrel,” then, with a little 
gasp at her restrained emotion, “ besides, we’re not 
lovers, Sidney.” 

His dark eyes looking merrily into hers, and lines of 
mirth playing about his lips, he forcibly took both her 
hands in his, and ironically said : “ No, we are not 
lovers, Elsie — are we?” 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE . 


95 

“ Are we ? Why, Sidney ! ” she repeated with flut- 
tering timidity, “ are we? ” 

“We are, Elsie, we are!” he cried rapturously, 
drawing her beautiful head against his shoulder. “We 
are, dearest, so let your crystal tears flow and I will 
kiss them away ! ” 

Somehow her right arm had been drawn over his 
shoulder and now circled his neck, and her left hand 
was imprisoned in his, as he again and again pressed 
her velvet lips with fierce, burning kisses. 

“ Oh, Elsie ! Elsie ! how I have longed for this 
moment ! ” 

She falteringly tried to draw herself away. “ No, 
no, no ! ” she cried, “ you must not talk like that. 
Remember auntie’s dictum at our parting.” 

“ Never to speak to you of love again ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ But I did not promise. Besides, my darling, it is 
of marriage I wish to speak now. I’ve improved my 
position, I’ve a snug little fortune, sweetest, which will 
be enough for our modest wants.” 

“ Ah, but my aunt is still opposed to you,” Elsie 
answered, with a regretful sigh. 

“ Opposed, or not, I shall speak to her to-day, Elsie.” 

There was resolution in his firm-set jaw, and she saw 
he meant it. Therefore, she said : 

“ No, no, I would not to-day , Sidney. Wait a little 
longer — perhaps ” she hesitated. 

“ But, why not ? ” 

“ Well,” she said demurely, and with a shy hesitation 
which puzzled him, “ she has told me Lord Lashburn 
may do me the honour to propose.” 

“ Ah, but Elsie, Elsie, you don’t mean ” 

She went on gravely, without heeding his words: 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


96 

“ She said it would gratify her exceedingly if I looked 
upon him in a favourable light ” 

“ But, my darling, you can’t ” 

“ But I have.” Even now he did not see the mis- 
chief in her eyes. 

“ Have, have ! How ? ” 

“ In Rome by the electric light, in Naples by moon- 
light, in Athens by gaslight — and here by daylight. 
And yet ” 

He now caught the twinkle as she looked up. 

“ Ha, ha, ha! And yet? ” he eagerly asked. 

“ He does not shine by any light.” 

“ Then you will not listen to his proposal ? ” 

“ Oh, but I must,” she said, rising and moving to- 
wards the gate. 

“ Must ? I don’t understand.” 

“ Because a girl receives but little attention in 
society, until she has declined at least one distinguished 
suitor,” she answered, with an arch glance at him. 

“ Declined ! Ha, ha ! I like that ! ” 

“ Oh, Sidney — couldn’t you see I was teasing you 
just to satisfy my vanity and see how much you really 
cared for me.” 

And so they talked on for an hour in perfect hap- 
piness, and rambled about that old-world garden where 
many an Egyptian girl had sighed her heart out for 
just such a companion as this young sailor. 

As Sir Richard had said to Sidney, Elsie had been 
conversing with Lord Lashburn in the hotel drawing- 
room. But, presently Lady Brattle entering, the girl 
excused herself and, as we have seen, fell in with more 
congenial company. 

When she had gone, Lord Lashburn observed to her 
aunt: 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


97 

“ Do you know, I suspect, I am not entirely agree- 
able to your niece.” 

“ Oh, I assure you, you are quite mistaken, my lord,” 
replied her ladyship, with a charming smile. 

“ I hope so, I hope so,” he replied reflectively. 

“ Elsie’s coyness must not be mistaken for aversion.” 

“ But how quickly she slipped away when you 
entered the room just now.” 

“ Ah, perhaps you had been addressing to her some 
tender sentiment.” 

“ Approaching it — approaching it — in a diplomatic 
way,” his lordship replied languidly. 

“ Then what more natural that she fled confused. I 
was de trop .” 

“ Possibly, possibly,” he said, meditatively twisting 
his mouse-coloured moustache. Then, he added, after 
some reflection : “ Yes, yes, possibly she was confused.” 

“ You, Lord Lashburn, are a man of the world, Elsie 
is as guileless as — as a wild flower ; therefore, the most 
delicate hint from you would cause a heart-flutter not 
easily concealed.” 

“ True, true. Very true,” observed his lordship, 
much flattered. 

“ Elsie is so free from conventional coquetry, so com- 
pletely heart-whole, — I — I ” 

“Yes, yes, Lady Brattle, that is my difficulty.” 

“ Difficulty ? ” 

“ Ya-as,” he replied slowly. “ One may easily 
frame a telling compliment to a many-seasoned fashion- 
able beauty, but one’s polished epigrams go for nothing 
with a girl so — so — so charmingly innocent of what one 
means.” 

“ But that should add to the lover’s zeal,” was the 
cunning rejoinder, with a benign smile. - 
7 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


9 3 

“ Ya-as, ya-as ; but I dislike zeal. I could never un- 
derstand why a man should risk his neck in the hunt- 
ing-field. Now a game of chess is quite as stimulating 
to me, and less enervating.” 

“ Ah, you, my lord, are inherently a strategist, hence, 
a diplomatist.” 

“No. It is all discipline, I assure you. As the 
marquis used to say of me, ‘ Lashburn conceals his 
zeal in Oriental apathy, but his apathy is tinged with a 
seeming appreciation which is flattering.’ ” His lord- 
ship dropped the glass from his eye, the better to see 
how his companion took this. “ Now you see my 
difficulty with a girl so extremely coy.” 

“ Surely that is not a blemish,” observed her lady- 
ship with some asperity. “ Coyness in such a girl as 
Elsie is an instinct, not a carefully cultivated virtue.” 

“ True, true,” he replied complacently, “ though a 
novelty in girls of to-day, you will admit.” After a 
pause, he continued : “ May I hope for a little tete-a-tete 
with Miss Lisle in the harem gardens this evening after 
dinner ? ” 

“ She will be delighted, I am sure.” 

“ And you think my — my suit will be favourably 
received ? ” 

“ I have no doubt of it, my lord.” 

With this understanding they joined the others on 
the verandah. At the first opportunity Lady Brattle 
led her husband aside, and with ill-concealed elation 
asked : 

“ Has it occurred to you, Richard, why Lord Lash- 
burn has been so — so partial to our society since we 
came to Alexandria? ” 

“ No, Betsy, no, I can’t say it has.” 

The eminent counsel always called his wife Betsy 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


99 


when in a facetious mood. And Karava’s story had 
amused him. 

“ Try,” said his spouse, with a complacent smile, the 
while struggling to subdue her satisfaction. 

“ Having a little flirtation with Nelly Shy perhaps ? ” 
Now the Q. C. very well knew the reason, but ventured 
this remark just to balk his wife, for he saw she was 
bursting to tell him something important. 

“ Bless me, Richard ! how dense you are ! ” Then 
in a triumphant, confidential tone, she said : “ He will 
propose to Elsie to-night.” 

“ Ho ! ho ! Oh, my ! ” cried her husband, and his 
eyes wandered to the gardens, where he could just 
discern the lovers moving towards them. 

“You don’t mean to say, Richard, you did not 
anticipate this.” 

“ I do, Betsy, I do. Your tactics are so exceedingly 
surprising — quite Napoleonic.” 

“ My tactics ! my tactics ! Lord Lashburn’s tactics, 
you mean.” 

“ You may possibly think so, Betsy ; but the love of 
mating is so inherent in your sex, you don’t notice it. 
You don’t really.” 

“ Fudge ! fudge ! He was smitten with her from the 
first.” 

“ Hum ! So you think she likes him,” he musingly 
observed, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and sup- 
pressed merriment playing about his lips. 

“ Of course. She tries to conceal it with a demure 
coquettish shyness, but she’s flattered all the same. 
She can’t hoodwink me.” 

“ Ha, ha ! Ho, ho ! Possibly not, Betsy,” rejoined 
her spouse, smothering his laughter with difficulty. 


100 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


Possibly not, Betsy — hum ! but just cast your eye on 
the couple approaching.” 

Lady Brattle, placing her glasses over her shapely 
nose, gazed in the direction indicated, and then 
exclaimed : — 

“ Why, it’s Sidney Dane ! ” 

The lovers had been preoccupied, and were close 
upon the elder couple before they noticed them. 

“ So, so,” cried her ladyship, with mounting wrath. 
“ So, so. Indeed!” 

“ Oh ! Didn’t you anticipate this ? ” asked Sir 
Richard, ironically mocking her. 

“ Oh, you traitor! ” she hissed with feline intensity. 

“ Ha ! ha ! Ho ! ho ! She couldn’t hoodwink you. 
Oh, no ! ” said the Q. C. 

The lovers stopped abashed. 

“Now, what does this mean, sir?” she asked of 
Sidney sternly. 

“ Elsie has — consented ” he hesitated, her lady- 
ship’s abrupt question quite confused him for the 
moment. 

“Well, go on,” said Lady Brattle arrogantly. 

“ Auntie,” broke in the girl, “ Sidney and I are ” 

“ ‘ Sidney ! Elsie ! ’ Oh, indeed ! ” exclaimed her 
ladyship with imperious sarcasm. Then, sternly to 
Sidney, “ By what etiquette, sir, do you presume to 
address my niece by her Christian name ? ” 

“ Lady Brattle, I love her,” answered Sidney un- 
flinchingly. 

“ And I hold a brief for the plaintiff, my lud,” put 
in Sir Richard, facetiously placing one foot on a garden- 
chair and posing as if pleading in court. 

Lady Brattle turned upon her husband angrily, and 
retorted: “ Then he has a fool for his counsel,” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


IOI 


“ Lady Brattle, I beg you to listen to my explanation, 
I ” 

“ Mr. Dane, I will not listen to you. You have again 
tried to steal the affections of an inexperienced girl. 
It’s the trick of an unprincipled libertine — a fortune- 
hunter ! ” cried her ladyship, with mounting fury. 

“ Oh, no, no ! Auntie, you shan’t say that,” inter- 
posed the girl. 

“ I protest, my lud, this is not regular,” began the 
Q. C. in the same breath. 

“ Hold your tongue, Richard ! As for you, sir, you 
are a sailor, a petty officer, without position or fortune 
— and you have the hardihood to presume ” 

“ Madam,” said Sidney sternly, “ I was about to 
explain my improved fortune ” 

“ Whatever your explanation,” she interrupted 
imperiously, “ I decline to consider you as a suitor for 
my niece’s hand. If you have a spark either of manli- 
ness or of self-respect, you will not again attempt to 
win her affection. Come, Elsie, come with me.” 

And her ladyship stalked majestically into the hotel. 
But Elsie lingered behind, and plaintively said : 

“ Uncle Dick, where was your eloquence?” 

“What can eloquence do, when a judge browbeats 
the counsel, ignores all protest, overrides every excep- 
tion, and leaves the court. Bah ! That’s the sort of 
court we should have if women had their rights.” 

“ Oh, Sidney. I fear it is hopeless,” cried the girl. 
“ She will never consent. Forget me ! Go and fight 
for your country ! ” 

“ Fight ! ” replied her lover sardonically. “ Time was 
when a man might rush to sea and get killed gloriously.” 

“ Don’t, oh, don’t talk like that, Sidney ! ” pleaded 
the girl. 


102 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE . 


“ Now we can only trust to the newly modelled iron- 
clads to drown us — ingloriously.” 

Her ladyship did not come to dinner that evening. 
Sidney, seeing that he was causing strained relations 
between Sir Richard and his wife, said that he would 
take rooms at another hotel. 

“ Do nothing of the kind, my boy,” said his god- 
father. 

“ But she hates me ; the case is hopeless.” 

“ Perhaps not. We’ll argue the case in chambers — I 
lodge with the court, you know. You stay here, and 
we’ll fight it out.” 

So Sidney remained at the Palace Hotel. 

Just as they were about to retire that night, Sir 
Richard drew his wife such an eloquent picture of her 
pandering and truckling to ensnare Lord Lashburn that 
she could not but own to herself it was true, though 
she angrily denied it. As her husband told her, she 
had become so dazzled and infatuated with the pros- 
pective coronet for the girl that she had lost sight of 
the despicable part she was playing to obtain it. And 
he concluded : “Just think of the brainless, selfish im- 
becile you would unite the girl to.” 

“ I’ll listen to no more of your brutal words,” Lady 
Brattle cried at last. “ But remember this : don’t dare 
to meddle with Elsie’s affairs again. If you do, you’ll 
be sorry for it. I shall occupy the room with Elsie to- 
night.” And with this hot shot, but inwardly baffled, 
she left him. 

Lord Lashburn did not obtain his tete~a4ete with 
Elsie, but instead made the most of a flirtation with 
the irrepressible Nelly Shy, who, with true American 
homage, made every allowance for his lordship’s slug- 
gish eccentricity of manner and vacuity of mind, when 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


103 


she learned he was the only son of an earl. Nelly 
played chess with some skill, and so the pair got on 
very well together ; his lordship seeming to have a 
great admiration for her, and to be fascinated by her 
audacity. 


104 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE, 


CHAPTER XI. 

A RECKLESS ADVENTURE. 

Nelly Shy kept her appointment with the woman 
Zeyneb, and learned that Zaras Pasha would be away 
from home on the following night. At first she thought 
she would make the visit alone, but on reflection she 
decided to invite Lady Brattle to join her. So towards 
evening on the fourth day of their sojourn in the ancient 
city she sought her friend. 

“ Where do you think I’ve been to-day? ” 

“ Oh, I can’t imagine, you never miss anything,” 
replied her ladyship. 

“ The Mosque ! It’s beautiful. Simply superb ! ” 

“ Did you venture into the Mosque alone ? ” 

“Alone? Wal, I guess I did. Why shouldn’t I ? ” 
“ And met with no mishap?” 

“ Wal, no, nothing to speak of. I was browsing 
about, happy as a coon in a cornfield, scooping in the 
whole show — when I noticed a mysterious door. It 
wasn’t marked private, so in I went.” 

“ Good gracious ! How dared you ? What was it ? ” 
“ The sacred shrine of the high priests, I reckon, 
for ” 

“ Gracious goodness, were you not frightened ? ” 

“ No,” replied Nelly complacently, “ but they were. 
It was rather gloomy and I ran plump against one of 
them. Scared ! Great snakes! You’d ought to have 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


10 5 

seen his face when he saw me. Guess he took me for 
a bird of Paradise, for he wilted, right thar. Wal, 
when he recovered he began to shoo at me as if I was 
an old hen. But I didn’t budge. Not much ! ” 

“ What courage ! ” cried her friend admiringly. 

“ Pretty soon another one came up, and they tried 
to hustle me out ; but I poked my Kodak at them and 
snapped it. Ha, ha, ha ! Then you’d ought to seen 
them scoot. Reckon they thought it was a new-fangled 
gun.” 

“ But how did you escape ? ” 

“ Oh, I strolled leisurely back ; I didn’t know but 
they might be unpleasant about it.” 

“ Well, I must say, you are the most courageous 
woman I ever met,” observed Lady Brattle, when Nelly 
had finished. 

“Oh, by the way,” continued Nelly, “would you 
like to look through a harem with me ? ” 

“ Goodness me ! A harem ? ” 

“ Yes, I’d like you to take it in with me to-night.” 

“ Take it in ? ” 

“ Yes, look it over. Thar’s one along the bay, where 
a sleepy old Pasha keeps his wives.” 

“ But how can we get in ? ” 

“ Oh, I’ve got the rocks.” 

“ Rocks ! rocks ! What do you mean ? ” 

“ Dollars, dollars. We call them * rocks ’ in the 
West, because they’re pretty tough arguments.” 

“ But the harem is sacred,” persisted her com- 
panion. 

“ Generally, generally. But nothing is sacred to the 
American eagle — when it’s on a dollar.” 

“ Still, the old Pasha, who is he ? ” 

“ Oh, his name is Zebras or something of that sort. 


io6 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


But he’s going to a banquet at the palace to-night, so 
his woman tells me.” 

“ Why, this would be a sight worth seeing ! ” cried het 
ladyship, now fired with curiosity and enthusiasm. 

“ Wal, I — I should whimper. Just think what a 
sensation you’d create with an article from your pen 
in the Blue Review.” 

“Yes, yes, it takes my breath away ! It’s a grand 
opportunity. I’ll go with you. ‘ Exposure of harem 
life .’ What a catching title.” 

Thereupon Nelly explained how it was to be done, 
with the result that Lady Brattle entered upon an ad- 
venture that afterwards caused her many hours of 
regret. 

After some debate, the two enterprising ladies de- 
cided that Elsie had better not accompany them ; 
so the unhappy girl was left at the hotel with her 
maid. 

Nelly had arranged with Zeyneb that Lady Brattle 
and herself should come disguised in cloaks and yash- 
maks, and drive up to the front entrance of the Villa 
Karava about ten o’clock, as if they were Egyptian 
ladies making an evening call. So at the time ap- 
pointed, and under the guise of denizens of the harem, 
they set forth in high spirits. 

Now it happened on that very morning that Sir 
Richard, Sidney, and the accomplished naturalist, 
Surgeon Dolby, had, like true Englishmen, taken a 
constitutional walk along the beach past the Villa 
Karava. On returning they came up with Zaras Pasha’s 
three wives, accompanied by the negro Abloo, as when 
Nelly Shy had encountered them. Some hundred 
yards before they reached the trio, they noticed, 
scrawled in large letters in the moist sand, the names 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


I0 7 

of u Runa,” “ Ayros,” and “ Lisba ” and then a little 
further on, the autograph “ Lisba Trebelli.” 

“ Lisba Trebelli ! ” cried Dolby, turning to Sir Richard. 
“ Why, that was the name of a famous dancer at the 
1 Alhambra ’ two or three years ago.” 

“ Of course it was,” replied Sir Richard, “ and devilish 
seductive she was. Did you know her?” 

“Very well, indeed. She was originally a protlgle 
of Admiral Blank, you know. But deserted him for 
an Austrian count.” 

“Yes, yes, I remember the affair; but this can’t be 
the same.” 

“ I’m not so sure of that. It’s surprising what a fancy 
these modern Egyptian Pashas have taken recently 
for the accomplishments of French and English ladies. 
Let us overtake these houris and see if we can recognize 
any of them.” 

So they increased their pace and presently came 
abreast of the so-called houris. 

The ladies pretended to look in an opposite direction, 
but Dolby, thinking he recognized the figure and amber 
locks of the divine Trebelli — for their yashmaks were 
all drawn over their features — spoke aloud, as if con- 
tinuing a narrative with his companions. 

“Yes,” he said, “when Admiral Blank found that 
she had gone off with Count Splugen, he swore like a 
Chinese pirate. I don’t blame him, for Trebelli was a 
deuced pretty woman.” 

Suddenly the houri he had suspected turned to him, 
hesitated a moment, then, with a gleam of recognition, 
and partly removing her yashmak asked : 

“ Are you not Surgeon Dolby ?” 

“ I am, mademoiselle, at your service ; and you, if I’m 
not mistaken, are Mademoiselle Trebelli.” 


108 HIS EGYPT! AH WIFE. 

“Yes, yes,” she answered with some emotion, and 
quickly covered her face again ; “ but do not let this 
mute see you talking to me ; he’s deaf and dumb, but 
alert with his eyes. Pretend to be looking for shells, 
and speak in a low voice.” 

“ Oh, come on, Dolby,” urged Sir Richard, “ you’ll get 
yourself into trouble.” 

“ Yes,” added Sidney, “ look how that surly nigger 
is glaring at us.” 

But Dolby paid no heed to them, so they walked on 
without him, while he, as directed, began to loiter and 
pick up shells, keeping up an intermittent dialogue 
with Trebelli. 

“ How came you here ? ” asked Dolby. 

“ Oh, it’s a long story, and — well, not a pleasant one. 
Are you here for long? ” 

“ Yes, a week.” 

“ What hotel?” 

“ The Palace, yonder. How I should like a chat of 
old times with you — but it’s impossible, eh ? ” 

“Oh, I’m not sure; I could be ill and need you. If 
I do ” 

By this time the ever-jealous Abloo had come to the 
conclusion that there was some secret communication 
between the Christian dog and his master’s sacred wife. 
The brief dialogue had taken up barely a moment, but 
now, with a savage grunt and a ferocious scowl at the 
unbeliever, Abloo drew the woman away. 

With a gay laugh, Dolby blew a kiss after the ladies, 
and leisurely joined his companions. 

Sir Richard rallied him on his audacious gallantry, 
and eagerly asked if it was really the divine Trebelli. 

“Yes, there is no doubt of that,” said Dolby, “ but I 
didn’t learn how she got into a harem.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


109 

Now Surgeon Dolby was one of those clever fellows 
who take the world easily and philosophically ; he was 
a handsome, middle-aged man, with a light sandy beard 
and soft blue eyes, who, had he chosen, might have 
become an expensive family physician in Wimpole 
Street or Cavendish Square. Having, however, early in 
life taken to the sea, he clung to it, because it gave him 
the leisure for study and the opportunity for collecting 
unique data, as well as specimens of natural science, 
while in foreign lands. Therefore, all ambition had 
been sunk in contentment with the life he led. 

After dinner that evening, Lady Brattle said to her 
husband : 

“ I am going out with Miss Shy this evening to call 
upon a friend.” 

“ A friend ! ” echoed her consort surprised ; “ I didn’t 
know you had a friend here.” 

“Ah, but I have,” she replied with that disdainful, 
peevish perversity which the best of women will 
occasionally use when they are angry with their hus- 
bands. “ I shall not return until late, but will not dis- 
turb you, for I shall sleep with Elsie.” 

They had not recovered, it may be said, from the 
disagreement of the day before, so one was quite as 
perverse as the other. 

“ Oh, very well,” answered the Q. C. “ Then I shall 
accept Dolby’s invitation to see some of the sights of 
Alexandria.” 

“ Just as you please, my dear,” said his wife, sweetly 
indifferent. 

Two hours after this little tiff, Sir Richard, Mr. 
Dolby, Karava Bey, and Lord Lashburn, were in the 
latter’s Egyptian domicile smoking and disposing of 
dry “ Monopole,” when a note was brought from the 


no 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


hotel for Mr. Dolby. It was marked “ immediate” and 
had been forwarded from the hotel. 

The surgeon excused himself, read the epistle, 
smiled, and then carelessly put it in his pocket. But 
his action had not escaped the alert Q. C., who asked 

“ Some one ill on the Psyche f ” 

“ No,” said Dolby, “ it’s not from H. M. S. Psyche, 
but from ” 

“ Another goddess, eh ?” with a humorous leer. 

“Yes, and, by the way, it contains a message for 
you,” handing him the letter. “You may as well 
read the whole of it.” 

Sir Richard eagerly devoured the note, with a racy 
smile playing about his ruddy, clean-shaven visage and 
beaming from his merry blue eyes. When he had 
mastered its contents he facetiously exclaimed : 

“ Oh, fie, fie ; Dolby! you’re a sad dog. You must 
have impressed the sweet Trebelli before to-day.” 

“ Oh, come, I say,” broke in Lord Lashburn, 
“ what’s the joke ? Pass it round.” 

“ Shall we ? ” asked Sir Richard, with an unctuous 
chuckle. 

“ As you please ; the invitation is as much yours as 
mine.” 

“ Ha, ha ! I’ve a good mind to,” cried the elder man. 

“ But, no, it would not be gallant to the ladies.” 

“ Oh, come now, that’s beastly shabby,” protested 
his lordship, with his elegant drawl. “ What do you 
say, Karava ? ” 

“ Don’t ask me. The best way to use a woman is 
to treat her as she treats herself, and waste no scruples 
over gallantry ; sooner or later she will sacrifice you to 
her caprice, and then you will marvel at your foolish 
sense of honour with a being so ungrateful.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


ill 


“ What do you say, Dolby?” 

u Oh, Karava is about right ; somewhat too pessi- 
mistic and sweeping perhaps. But explain the matter, 
Sir Richard.” 

“ Well, then, Karava. I’ve told you of the adventure 
we had this morning on the sands.” 

“Yes, with the cosmopolitan wives of the cosmo- 
politan Pasha,” sneered Karava. 

“ This letter is from one of them. I’ll read it to you. 

“ Dear Mr. Dolby. — I am not at all well, and should 
like a consultation with you.” (Oh, ho !) “ Runa and 
Lisba are also ailing. We have just discovered that 
the Pasha has gone to spend the night at the Palace with 
the Khedive. If you come to the sea-gate at ten 
o’clock you will not find it locked, for we have bribed 
the old gardener and got the key. You had better 
bring your two friends, for Runa has taken a great 
fancy to that jaunty old boy with the rollicking eye. 
Now this is to be a perfectly proper little garden-party. 
Do come, for we can never tell when we shall be alone 
again. 

“ Yours^sincerely, 

“ You KNOW WHOM ! ” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! What do you think of that? ” asked 
the volatile Q. C. 

“ Nothing remarkable,” answered Karava, puffing 
his cigar stoically. 

“ Would it be safe? ” asked Lashburn. 

“ Safe enough — if you are not caught,” replied 
Karava. “ But don’t forget that the harem is sacred, 
and that strangers discovered there may be despatched 
without ceremony,” was the reply, uttered with a 
ray less smile.. 


1 1 2 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ No, no, that’s your little joke,” said the lawyer. 

“ Oh, that’s rubbish,” put in Lashburn, but with a 
look of apprehension. 

“ No rubbish — it is the truth — it is the law ! And I 
can assure you, you would require no coffin or burial- 
certificate if Zaras Pasha caught you in his harem. 
He would order his dusky eunuchs to strangle you and 
drop you into the bay without the least compunction. 
He is as ruthless as a barbarian.” 

Lord Lashburn looked convinced and alarmed, Mr. 
Dolby smiled sceptically,” Sir Richard sighed, as if 
satisfied, and murmured : 

“ What a pity ! poor girls, poor girls ! Oh, Karava, 
how I should like to explore those gardens ! ” 

“ Ha,” rejoined the Egyptian, “ the man is not old 
whose heart is young.” 

“ Oh, I say,” put in Lashburn, “ it’s perfectly true 
about the Pasha going to the Palace. I was invited. 
Tarzic Pasha, Ashmut Bey, and O’Riley Pasha have 
gone. I know it’s a gambling party.” 

“Yes, yes, there is no doubt of that,” assented 
Karava Bey. “ And,” he added, “ you would be per- 
fectly safe if you confined yourselves to the gardens.” 

“ Oh, we could do that, eh, Dolby ? ” eagerly asked 
the Q. C. 

“ I could,” replied the surgeon drily. 

“ Then, by all means, let’s risk it,” urged Lashburn. 

They had by this time imbibed enough Heidseck to 
make them reckless and merry ; so the three Europeans 
decided to accept the invitation of the forlorn houris. 

“You must be careful,” Karava cautioned them, “to 
secure the garden-door when you get inside, and one 
of you should retain the key, so as to make sure of 
your retreat in case of surprise.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


Il 3 


“ Oh, I’ll take charge of the key,” said Lashburn. 

“ And you will need cloaks and turbans, for in the 
garb of Franks you would excite suspicion prowling 
about in the night. I will lend you, Sir Richard, one 
of mine. In the next square, Lashburn, you and Mr. 
Dolby will find a French Jew who will provide you 
with Mahommedan raiment — for a small considera- 
tion.” 

“ Karava, you are a brick ! ” exclaimed Sir Richard. 
“ But I dare say you consider us reckless idiots.” 

“ Not at all ; you are perfectly safe if you remain 
in the garden.” 

“ Oh, I’ll see to that,” said the Q. C. 

Thus assured, the trio set forth in a hired convey- 
ance, Karava accompanying them part of the way. 

Now, Karava Bey had an intense hatred for Zaras 
Pasha. The latter had twice, during the two years he 
had been in the Khedive’s service, prevented Karava’s 
promotion, because, as Zaras had informed his majesty, 
he was too friendly with the English. 

Hence it was that Karava encouraged his friends to 
undertake the illicit visit against his better judgment, 
and for the secret gratification it gave him of knowing 
that the parasitical Pasha’s harem was being desecrated. 
So he smiled with fiendish satisfaction when he left the 
Englishmen. 

8 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


114 


CHAPTER XII. 

SIDNEY DINES WITH M. LE ZARAS. 

AFTER his encounter with Lady Brattle, Sidney 
spent most of the night bitterly reflecting on the per- 
versity of Fate. From his cradle never had the god- 
dess of Destiny smiled on him ; before he could lisp 
his mother’s name, she had been taken ; and then, 
while only a boarding-school lad of thirteen, Fate 
smote him again by depriving him of his father. It 
had been a hard blow, for though he had a brave heart 
it was none the less tender. “ And now, again ” — he 
said to himself — “when I had got into the habit of 
snapping my fingers at the cruel jade, she interposes 
an arrogant, prejudiced, worldly woman, between me 
and the only girl I can ever love.” It had been a 
favourite saying of his father’s, that “ Opportunity does 
not always make great men ; the great man is self-made ; 
he seizes, and is equal to, the opportunity when it 
comes, or, by indomitable pluck, he makes it. It is the 
history of all great men from Hannibal to Napoleon ; 
some of them, like Caesar, may have had a half-supersti- 
tious belief in destiny, but they never absolutely trusted 
the fickle jade ! Remember that, my boy, and always 
oppose Fate with energy.” 

Sidney thought of this now and decided to follow 
Sir Richard’s advice and persevere with his suit ; for 
had not the sweetest girl in the world given him her 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


ir S 


heart, without any feminine artifice or reserve ? And 
had she not remained true to her promise, in spite of 
the temptations of wealth and a title ? 

Late in the afternoon, he was sitting on the terrace 
in front of the hotel, wondering how his case had pro- 
gressed in chambers, for Sir Richard had not men- 
tioned it on their morning’s walk, when he received a 
note from Zaras Pasha, inviting him to dine at the 
Hotel Khedive that evening. 

When he arrived at the hotel, Sidney found that the 
Pasha had ordered a sumptuous repast in a private 
room, because, as he explained,” “I wish to have along 
chat with you, and you might have a prejudice about 
my Eastern mode of living.” 

“ Oh, no,” replied Sidney, “ I have no bigotry about 
religion, or social customs ; I’ve travelled too much for 
that.” 

“ Well, here we are, my young friend, so let us feast 
and be merry, for to-morrow we dine again; which 
ees an improvement on ze biblical phrase, ees it not 
zo ? ” his corpulent frame shaking like jelly, as he 
laughed. 

“ A more hopeful one, at any rate.” 

He regarded Sidney with his animated, benign smile, 
and asked as he poured the champagne : 

“ Now, how have you prospare — you have been 
promoted? ” 

“ Yes, I’m now first lieutenant.” 

“ Good ! I wrote to your commander after zat leetle 
affair, on ze Saluen, when you save me from death and 
disgrace.” 

“ Oh, pray, don’t refer to that again, I was doing 
only my duty, and following orders.” 

“ Ah, but eef you had been as careless about you* 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


1 16 

duty asl was about mine, I should have been done for 
as you say in England.” 

They conversed for some time about naval matters, 
which led Sidney to tell him of his invention and how 
he had prospered with it, and his host congratulated 
him. 

“ Though you have prospare,” said Le Zaras after a 
time, with a keen, critical scrutiny of the young man’s 
face.” You do not look happy — content.” 

“ Oh, it’s nothing — only the conventional, disgruntled 
habit of we English never to be satisfied with any- 
thing,” said the young fellow evasively. 

“ Ah, no ; no, no ! You did not have zat look before 
— not even yesterday. It ees not ze liver. No ! 
Your eye ees clear, and white as mountain snow. No ! ” 

“ Yes, my liver’s all right.” 

“Ha!” exclaimed Le Zaras, after brief reflection. 
“ I have guess ze cause. You aare in love ! Ha, ha ! ” 

Sidney coloured and endeavoured to look uncon- 
cerned, but his companion continued : 

“ Ha, it is something to be proud of, my young friend 
— if she is pretty.” 

“ Oh, she’s pretty enough — but I would rather not 
discuss her, if you will — will pardon my seeming chur- 
lishness, Monsieur Le Zaras.” This was said with a 
sad attempt at a smile. 

“ Certainly, my friend, certainly. If it ees painful, 
we will change ze subject.” Then, after a pause, he 
asked, “ Where did you leave ze learned surgeon, 
Dolby ? ” 

“ With a friend of mine, Sir Richard Brattle.” 

Le Zaras was about to raise his glass to his lips, but 
calmly replaced it on the table at the mention of this 
name. 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


117 

“ What ! the famous advocate of London ? ” he asked. 

“The same, do you know him ?” 

“No, — but I have heard of him often. He is your 
friend ? ” 

“Yes, staying at the Palace Hotel.” 

“ And with him ? ” looking at his guest with sup- 
pressed excitement. 

“ His wife and niece.” 

“ By the grave of Mahomet ! ” — Le Zaras always 
adapted his oaths to the country he was serving — 
“ Zat is a surprise ! Ha, ha, I see ! Ze niece is your 
lady-love — is it not so ? ” he said, to mask his interest. 

Sidney nodded assent and asked, “ Do you know 
her?” 

“Very well, very well. She is ze sweetest creature 
that breathes ! ” 

It was now Sidney’s turn to be surprised. 

“ I think there must be some mistake,” he remarked, 
“ it cannot be possible you know her.” 

“ Ah, so you zink ; but, her name is Elsie — she has 
a head and figure like Juno, soft brown, fawn-like eyes, 
and hair like — ah ! — zare ees nothing to compare it 
with but ripe brown Indian corn. Ha, ha, is she not 
like zat ? ” 

“ You have described her exactly,” cried the lover, 
now melting with his host’s contagious enthusiasm. 

“ I admire your taste, my young friend, she is an 
angel ! But she does not have you — is it so ?” 

“ Ah, there you are — pray, excuse me — I can only 
say she has not repulsed me.” 

“ Then it is, this Sir Richard refuses you ” 

“ No, he favours me.” 

“ So, so. It is her — ” he was about to say mother, 
but he checked himself, and continued, “ her aunt.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


XJ.8 

“ Yes.” 

“ And why?” 

“ Because I am a sailor.” 

“ Ah, she is a proud woman, eh ? ” 

“ Yes, very ; and ambitious that her niece should 
make a better alliance.” 

“ Then you have a rival ? ” 

“Yes, a Lord Lashburn.” 

“ And Elsie, she ” 

“ Despises him.” 

“Because she loves you. I zee! I zee! You are 
too modest, my young friend. Can you not get ze con- 
sent of ze aunt, by some means ? ” 

“ No, she has twice refused me. Only last night she 
insulted me grossly.” 

“ Ze girl would marry you if you got ze aunt’s con- 
sent? ” asked Le Zaras eagerly. 

“Yes, certainly.” 

“ Then, you shall have eet, my young frien’.” 

“You shall have it!” repeated Sidney, with an 
incredulous smile. 

“Yes,” said Le Zaras, “I know ze girl’s father, 
he ” 

“ Ah, pardon me, that’s impossible, he died years 
ago.” 

“ Ah, so they say in England,” with a sardonic smile, 
“ but he is now in Egypt. This proud Lady Brattle 
shall be made to accept you, my friend.” 

“ Why, you astonish me ! ” exclaimed Sidney. 

“ I will astonish her — what I have say to you you 
must not tell to this innocent girl, it would dis- 
tress her ; but ” 

Le Zaras stopped abruptly and puffed at his cigar 
reflectively for some seconds, and then continued : 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


IX 9 

“ Yes, I will zee her father; you shall meet me here 

to-morrow, and I believe ” he paused again, and 

musingly watched the smoke ascending from his cigar. 
“ Well, we shall zee, we shall zee what can be done ! ” 

Sidney gazed at him with the same silent, incredulous 
look with which a rustic regards a conjurer for the 
first time. 

“ Ah, you have not faith in me?” 

“Yes,” falteringly replied Sidney, “ but ” 

“ You shall zee I can do you azervice.” 

They had finished the repast and the host rose and 
said : 

“ Now I must go. I have an appointment this evening 
with the Khedive. But to-morrow, after I zee Made- 
moiselle Elsie’s father, I will sendze young lady a letter 
in your care ; you must be sure she gets it while alone. 
Her aunt must not know. Then ask for me here at 
zis time to-morrow.” 

“ I will do as you wish,” said Sidney frankly ; “ but 
you must excuse me if I appear a little sceptical ; I’ve 
no faith in magicians, ancient or modern.” 

“ Ha ! ha ! ” laughed the Pasha, slapping Sidney on 
the shoulder. “ I am a magician, am I ? I can bring 
ze dead to life, and ” — with a fiendish smile — “ ze 
arrogant to zare knees, and ze sweetheart to her lover. 
Ha! ha! ha!” 

His voice had about the same volume as a Swiss 
horn ; so that when he laughed, it was as if a trombone 
was imitating a cornet. They now descended the 
stairs, and the Pasha summoned his carriage. He 
gaily saluted Sidney, climbed into the conveyance, and 
drove away, leaving the young lieutenant filled with 
wonder and speculation, which furnished him with 
food for reflection well into the next day. 


120 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

NELLY AND LADY BRATTLE VISIT THE HAREM. 

It was after ten when the enterprising journalist and 
Lady Brattle drove up to the Villa Karava. 

As Zeyneb opened the door for them Nelly cau- 
tiously whispered : 

“ Has the old Pasha gone ?” 

“ Yees, and take Bateekah wif him.” 

“ Who’s Bateekah?” 

“ Zee — what you call in Anglish — ze valet de maison" 
said the woman in a polyglot of her own. 

“ Valet? Oh, do you mean the butler?” 

“ Ze butler, zat ees him ! he take always Bateekah 
when he stay all night.” 

“ Ah, good ! then we may remain as long as we like, 
without fear of being disturbed ? ” 

Zeyneb nodded, and led the way into the chief 
reception-room. As the visitors entered, they noted 
that its principal furniture consisted of low divans 
round three sides of the room, richly upholstered in 
orange-coloured silk damask, with here and there a 
tiny table of delicate French design, and three or four 
light fragile chairs of the same fashion. There were 
no windows, for the apartment was quite open to the 
long garden, which was reached by four white marble 
steps ; and over the wall, at the end of the garden, 
could be seen, in the distance, the sparkling waters of 
the moonlit bay. A fountain was plashing just beneath 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


1 2 I 


them as they stood looking out into the night, and 
a gentle breeze from the bay brought a faint odour of 
early flowers. 

Zeyneb conversed in a polyglot of three languages, 
so that Miss Shy did not quite understand all she said. 

“What room did you say this was?” asked Nelly. 

“ Ze Pasha receive ee’s fren’s here— ze reception- 
room.” 

“ Most beautiful, eh ? ” turning to her friend. 

“ Charming, charming ! What a lovely night ! ” cried 
Lady Brattle. “ Why it’s only February, and yet it’s as 
warm as a July evening with us.” 

“ What a delightful view ! How luxuriantly those 
lovely palms, huge cactus, and tall sago trees, mingle 
together, as tangled and dense as in a tropical forest. 
I wish I had my Kodak — what a lovely picture this 
garden would make ! ” 

“ I notice, Miss Shy,” said her friend, “ that all the 
furniture which is not Egyptian is Parisian.” 

“ Oh, yes, everything is French since they built the 
Suez Canal. All the best harems, Fve heard, have 
French furniture ; the wives demand the latest fashions. 
Eh, Zeyneb ? ” 

The woman nodded assent. 

“ By the way,” asked Lady Brattle, “ where do they 
keep the children ? ” 

Zeyneb grinned compassionately. 

“Oh, they have none,” said Nelly smiling, “ that is 
another French fashion they’ve adopted.” 

The ladies walked about the room, examining and 
jotting down every detail in their note-books. 

“ Why, here are cigarettes and wine,” observed 
Lady Brattle, tasting the wine. “ It’s not bad, rather 
sweet.” 


122 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ And French novels/’ said Nelly, holding up “ Nana,” 
and two or three others of its class. “ How many 
women has this Pasha?” asked Nelly, turning to Zey- 
neb. 

“Ten; three here, and seven odalisques at Rosetta.” 

“ Oh, the polygamous monster ! Ten! Ten! Shock- 
ing ! ” cried her ladyship. “ You see, Miss Shy, notwith- 
standing our boasted reforms in this country, our sex 
are still little better than human slaves. I believe any 
libertine may come here, and, by pretending to accept 
their religion, adopt their degrading customs.” 

“ Do you ? ” rejoined Nelly. “ I wonder if that’s the 
reason why so many wealthy bachelors like to winter 
in Egypt.” 

“ If so, it’s a disgrace to civilization, and I’ll ex- 
pose it in the Review, as soon as I get home ! ” cried 
Lady Brattle. 

Both ladies were so busy with their note-books, they 
did not notice that the Nubian, Abloo, had entered, 
and was angrily expostulating with Zeyneb in dumb 
show. When Lady Brattle presently looked up and 
beheld him, she exclaimed : 

“ Goodness gracious ! Miss Shy, who is this? ” 

“ Oh, that — that’s Abloo,” coolly replied Nelly. 

“ lie no harm — he only our boy — he sleep when 
you come in,” hastily and apologetically explained 
Zeyneb. 

“ That hideous negro, a boy ! ” 

“ How are you, Abloo ? ” said Nelly. “ Been having 
a little nap, I see.” Abloo only grunted. “ What’s the 
matter with the coon, Zeyneb ? Why don’t he speak ? ” 

“He no talk, no lie, no hear; he deaf and dumb! 
Ha, ha, ha ! ” chuckled Zeyneb. 

“ Wal, what’s the good of him, then ? ” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


123 

“ To attend ze ladies — Oh, he no harm — he like what 

you call in Anglish— ze— ze— ze ” Zeyneb puzzled 

her brain for an instant, and then joyfully cried : “ Ah, 
it ees ze ox ! ze ox ! He no harm you.” 

“ Oh, I see ! ” exclaimed the American, a whimsical 
smile gradually spreading over her face. “ Oh ! Oh ! 
That’s his species ! ” Then she whispered something 
to her friend and both ladies seemed to enjoy the 
joke, for they laughed immoderately. 

“ Wal, what does he want?” asked Nelly, when the 
two ladies had recovered from their hilariousness, while 
Zeyneb and Abloo were evidently quarrelling by the 
vigorous signs that were passing between them. 

“ He say he want haf ze money you give me.” 

“Oh, that’s his game,” said Nelly, “backsheesh 
everywhere ! ” 

“ Oh, give him this,” cried Lady Brattle, offering 
Zeyneb a sovereign. “For goodness’ sake get rid of 
him ! ” 

“ Ah, zis will satisfy him. He have a secret bottle — 
he drink and sleep all ze time ze Pasha away. He go 
to sleep now.” 

Abloo grinned amiably as he took the gold, and 
reeled out of the room ; for he was already half tipsy. 

“Great Snakes! What a crocodile grin! How I’d 
like to photograph that cavern of his. What a colour 
it would give to my article ! ” exclaimed Nelly. 

“ Oh, you will make it lurid enough ! ” rejoined her 
companion. 

“ Wal, I should snicker, if I don’t. Say, Zeney, we 
ain’t seen the ladies. Where are they ? ” 

“ In ze garden.” 

“ Ah, then we’d better interview them,” said Nelly, 
moving towards the steps. 


124 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Oh, no, no, no ! ” objected Zeyneb, in alarm. 
“ You cannot speak wis ze ladies. Zey would tell ze 
Pasha.” 

“ Oh, I see. What a pity ! Look here, Zeney, are 
these wives always strictly er — wal, you know, on the 
Q. T. ? ” winking knowingly at the Egyptian. 

“ I am not know Q. T. ? ” 

“No secret love affairs, eh?” 

“ I am not know anyzing;” and the hag looked 
exceedingly shocked at such a suggestion. 

“ Oh, there must be,” cried Lady Brattle, “ I’m sure ; 
I’ve read of them.” 

“ Of course, of course, but she won’t give it away. 
The wives know how to work her.” 

“ Come zis way, ladies, and I will show you ze 
harem apartments upstairs,” said Zeyneb. 

“ But can’t we see the ladies? ” insisted the Amer- 
ican. 

“Yes, from zat room,” said Zeyneb, pointing to a 
balcony, in a wing of the villa. “ Zey are in ze gar- 
den ; but zare you can see zem, and here — for zey 
will come in soon.” 

They followed her upstairs, where Zeyneb led them 
into the harem proper. It was lined with mirrors, and 
beneath the windows, which looked on to the garden, 
were luxuriant couches, sofas, and easy-chairs, covered 
and cushioned with pale lemon-coloured silk, while the 
drapery of the windows was in neutral tints that varied 
from orange to lemon. All seemed in perfect harmony 
of colour, even to the rich thick rugs and carpet into 
which their feet sank as in a woodland bed of moss. 

While Zeyneb was engaged with Lady Brattle, ex- 
plainingthe occupations and amusementsof the denizens 
of the harem, Nelly stole along the passage which led 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


125 

to the wing and balcony that overlooked the garden, 
and the reception-room which opened on to it. Nelly 
could hear voices talking in French, and through the 
foliage she could just discern the figures of three 
women. Two of them were walking with their arms 
clasping each other’s waists ; and the third, a tall, stately 
creature, with pure pale Greek features, and a languid 
manner, followed behind. 

“ I don’t think they will come,” said one of the two 
walking together. 

“ Oh, I do, Runa,” said the other, “ if he gets the 
note.” 

“ But you can’t be sure he got the note, Lisba,” re- 
plied the petite one, called Runa. “ Would he dare? 
Is he brave ? ” 

“ As brave as he is handsome. Heigho ! ” sighed 
the frail blonde, Lisba. 

“ What a gay old darling that was who clasped his 
heart with one hand, and blew me a kiss with the 
other.” 

“ You can’t really admire such an old man, Runa,” 
said the languid one, joining the others. 

Nelly, at the balcony above, was now all ears. 

“ I should make him think so, for the fun of the 
thing,” replied Runa. “ I would say no end of sweet 
and endearing things just to get him to make love to 
me,” was the rejoinder with a ripple of laughter. 

“ Such an old man can’t make love,” observed the 
cold majestic one, who was called Ayros. 

“ Oh, can’t he! ” retorted Runa. “ Far better than 
a young one. A few admiring glances, a tender, half 
shy pressure of his hand, and he will be quivering with 
delight, and pouring out a string of rapturous phrases. 
— Hush ! I thought I heard the gate creak. Yes, I 


126 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


did ! ” and the vivacious Runa dashed away down the 
garden and was lost to Nelly’s view. 

In less than a moment, the girl returned, and ex- 
citedly and breathlessly exclaimed : 

“ Yes, they have come! They have come ! Three 
of them — one for each of us. How lucky we did not 
lock the gate. Let us go and welcome them.” And 
then the three ladies disappeared in the shrubbery. 

“ Well, if this ain’t a circus! ” cried Nelly to herself, 
as she rushed off to acquaint Lady Brattle with what 
she had seen and heard. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


12 / 


CHAPTER XIV. 

LORD LASHBURN IS DETAINED AT THE VILLA 
KARAVA. 

In convivial gatherings, while under the influence 
of sparkling wine, many noble enterprises, many dis- 
astrous speculations, and many gigantic swindles have 
been conceived by, and financial support wheedled out 
of the light-headed diners, who have afterwards won- 
dered at their imbecility. Under the same conditions, 
many a reckless and often disgraceful adventure has 
had its inception ; for we all know that champagne 
has a treacherous habit of making us believe we are 
quite rational, when we are really mildly delirious. On 
such occasions — though we never frankly confess it to 
our wives — we men are like a pack of boys, playing 
“ follow the leader,” and none of us like to show the 
white feather, particularly when the adventure tickles 
the fancy. 

Our friends, Sir Richard, Mr. Dolby, and Lord Lash- 
burn, under the influence of champagne, were now 
playing “ follow the leader,” with the crafty Karava as 
their guide. 

As we have seen, they had no sooner entered the 
ponderous portal of the garden, which startled them 
by the creaking of its rusty hinges, than they were met 
by the expectant ladies. 

“ Are you quite alone ? ” asked Dolby, in alow tone, 

of Lisba, 


128 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“ Yes, quite, and dying for your company.” 

“ But your attendants? ” asked the Q. C. 

“ Oh, we’ve bribed them to keep out of the way. 
Abloo is in a tipsy sleep by this time,” said Runa de- 
murely, taking Sir Richard’s arm, and looking up into 
his face with a smile of bewitching coyness. 

Dolby introduced his friends to Lisba under the 
fictitious titles of Brattle Pasha, and Lashburn Effendi, 
and Lisba, in turn, presented Runa and Ayros. It was 
amusing to see Sir Richard and Lashburn attempting 
to remove their turbans as they saluted the ladies. 
After the formality of introduction, Dolby turned to 
Lisba and asked : 

“ Are you quite sure we shall not be disturbed ? ” 

“ Oh, quite, quite,” was the reply. “ And now you 
shall see how Egyptian ladies entertain their guests. 
We are delighted to see you, but, understand, every- 
thing is to be as perfectly decorous, you know, as an 
afternoon tea at Kensington.” 

“ Certainly, certainly,” assented Sir Richard ; “ I 
shall see to that. Oh, by the way, Lashburn Effendi,” 
cried the Q. C. to his lordship, who was particularly 
attentive to Ayros, “ have you locked the garden-door ? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Lashburn. 

“ And have you got the key ? ” 

“ Yes; I took care of that.” 

“ Don’t lose it for the world.” 

The three ladies were attired in light-coloured 
modern gowns of soft, clinging fabrics which outlined 
the graceful proportions of their limbs, and merely 
veiled their swelling breasts; and yet they were far 
more enchanting and seductive thus attired than if 
nakedly exposing (as fashion decrees), what every true 
woman holds sacred to her spouse and her babe. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


129 


Dolby and Lisba now led the way towards the villa, 
Lashburn and Lisba following, while Sir Richard and 
Runa sauntered along slowly in the rear. 

“ Do you know,” said the Q. C., tenderly pressing 
Runa’s arm, “you are a delicious little darling? ” 

“ Of course, I know,” rejoined Runa, “ but it’s nice! 
to feel that you know it,” with a shy glance from 
beneath her long brown lashes, that thrilled the gay 
old dandy. 

“ Ha, ha! yes, I should indeed be blast not to feel 
your charm at once.” 

“ I like you — your admiration is so — frank.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! you jolly little punster ! ” 

“ Oh, I do, I do. You’re so responsive.” 

“ Am I ? ” asked the already bewitched Q. C., taking 
her hand and attempting to kiss it. 

“ Oh, don’t do that ! ” quickly withdrawing her hand. 

“ Why not ? ” he asked, astonished at the abrupt 
change in her manner. 

“ Oh, our admirers don’t do that,” was the rejoinder, 
with well-feigned seriousness. 

“ No ? I meant no offence, my dear, no offence 
whatever.” 

“ But it is an offence — a kiss is wasted — there.” Her 
dark red lips poutingly turned up to his face. 

“ There ? Ah, ah ! I see ! I see ! ” and he attempt- 
ed to kiss Runa’s coquettish lips, but, with a quick 
movement of her head, she adroitly evaded him, but 
said with a smack of her lips, 

“Ah, that is much better.” 

“ But I didn’t kiss you.” 

“ Yet you might have done — if you had been 
quicker,” said Runa, playfully patting his cheek. 

9 


Ills EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


130 

“ God bless me, what delicious candour ! ” he cried, 
half to himself. 

“ You kiss as daintily as a bee kisses the posy/' she 
observed, hugging his arm. 

“ Oh, I’ve gathered honey before,” he replied, with 
a wicked leer. 

“ I knew you had, you dear old rogue,” retorted 
Runa admiringly. 

“ But never in Egyptian clover.” 

They had now come up with the others. Dolby and 
Lisba were conversing together, seated in modem 
wicker chairs, provided with luxurious silk cushions. 
Lashburn and his dark-haired companion each appro- 
priated one of these, and Sir Richard and Runa fol- 
lowed their example. A light bamboo-table stood 
near, and on it were dainty biscuits, bon-bons, light 
wine, and cigarettes. 

After they had all been animatedly conversing for 
some time, each interested in his own special compan- 
ion, and the visitors had partaken of wine and bis- 
cuits, Lisba exclaimed : “ Oh, perhaps you would like 
to smoke ! ” 

“ Of course they would,” cried Runa. “ Let us get 
each of them a nargeeleh.” 

“What is a nargeeleh?” asked Sir Richard. 

“ Oh, an Oriental pipe,” replied Dolby. 

“ Then, let’s have one, by all means,” said the Q. C. 
“ Let us do the thing properly while we are about 
it.” 

“ Come, Ayros,” said Runa, “ help me to find the 
pipes, and, Lisba, dear, you might see if you could find 
some champagne — for I am sure gentlemen don’t care 
for this sweet wine.” 

“ It is rather — er — sickly,” remarked Lashburn. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


13 * 

“ Oh, then we’ll get some,” said Lisba. And with 
this the two ladies disappeared up the steps into the 
villa. 

“ I say,” observed Lashburn, when they had gone, 
“ this is rather dangerous, you know. Is it a plant ? ” 

“ Pooh, pooh, not at all,” answered the Q. C. “ We 
need not stay long; just a brief chat, and then off, eh, 
Dolby ? ” 

“ We certainly seem to have been expected,” assented 
the surgeon. 

“ Of course ; look at our reception ! ” 

“ But is it genuine?” asked the embryo diplomat, 
nervously twisting his moustache. 

“ As the sun — and as warm, by Jove ! ” answered the 

Q. c. 

“ It’s not a snare?” persisted the timorous Lash- 
burn. 

“ Bless you, no ! We’re as welcome as whisky at a 
wake ! I say, Dolby, how coolly you take it.” Then 
looking about him at the delightful surroundings, he 
rapturously exclaimed : “ By the sons of Ptolemy, this 
is an adventure ! Among the houris ! How charm- 
ingly hospitable they are ! Karava Bey told me they 
were all ravenous flirts, and would risk their necks for 
a novelty. And, by Jove! they would. That little 
red-haired gypsy squeezed my hand just now as if I 
were twenty — and, egad, I felt twenty. I say, Lashburn, 
how do you find your — er — er — what’s her name ? the 
dark-eyed goddess ? ” 

“ Ayros? Oh, majestic as a Roman empress ; rather 
cold, uncertain and capricious, but — charming, charm- 
mg! 

“And you, Dolby, how do you find the fragile 
blonde? ” 


132 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“ Lisba ? Clinging and docile as a fawn,” said 
Dolby, impassively. 

“ And you, Sir Richard, your Runa, eh ? ” asked 
Lashburn banteringly. 

“Runa! Heigho! My eloquence is inadequate. 
The — well, she has the chic of a Parisian grisette, the 
— her eyes have the seductive candour of a Bond-Street 
milliner, and the piquancy of a Yankee debutante, all 
blending as harmoniously as the hues of a rainbow.” 

A peal of laughter greeted this sally. 

“Haw, haw! Ye-as, ye-as. I thought you were 
smitten,” said Lashburn, leering at the Q. C. through 
his single glass. 

“ Bitten, my boy, bitten. Why, I feel as delirious 
as a lad after his first kiss. But here they come ! 
Hush ! ” 

The three wives now returned, Lisba bringing the 
wine, and Ayros and Runa the three narghiles. Lisba 
placed the wine on the table, and while Dolby loosened 
the corks, Runa and Ayros presented their respective 
admirers with the stems of the pipes. When the 
foaming champagne had been passed around, and each 
of the intruders was lazily lolling in his easy-chair, 
puffing away as if to the custom born, Runa nestled 
up to Sir Richard and taking the cigarette from between 
her gleaming teeth, said : 

“You see we delight in making you cosy and at 
home.” 

“You do, Runa, you do. By the way, yours is a 
charming name.” 

** Runa ! Do you like it ? ” 

“Yes, and the owner immensely,” added the gallant 
old Q. C., looking down into her eyes with killing 
devotion. 


his eg YrriAN wife. 


*33 


“ Ah, you are my Pasha,” she said, patting his chin. 
“ Yes ! You are as sweet as Mahomet.” 

The Q. C. had languidly closed his eyes, and for the 
moment had forgotten where he was. “ I am, my 
dear, I am ! ” he cried with a start. “ But I never 
knew it before.” Then to himself he said : “ Oh, if 
Betsy could only see how I am appreciated ! ” 

At that very moment his wife was on the balcony 
above, looking down at them ; for Nelly Shy had 
hastened to her and excitedly whispered : “ You leave 
Zeney to me, go along to that balcony and you’ll see a 
circus.” 

“A circus! What is a circus doing here?” asked 
her ladyship innocently. 

“ Wal, you go, and you’ll see ! ” 

Then as Lady Brattle hastened away, Nelly turned 
to Zeyneb and said : “ Why, Zeyneb, I’d no idea you had 
such a remarkable view from that balcony ; it’s simply 
enchanting. You must let me sketch it.” 

“ Oh, it ees very nice,” replied the menial, ignorant of 
Nelly’s irony. 

“ Why, it’s a paradise, a paradise by moonlight ! 
Now what have you been explaining to — to my friend 
while I’ve been gone.” 

Thus was it she artfully kept Zeyneb busy while 
her friend looked on at the “ circus.” 

Now Lady Brattle was so near-sighted that she could 
never distinguish the face of one person from another 
across the street ; consequently she did not recognize 
her evergreen spouse, now playing the Pasha in the 
gardens below. 

“ Well, well,” she said to herself, “ it’s simply beyond 
belief! No wonder she called it a circus!” Her 
ladyship continued to gaze on the scene as if spell- 


*34 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


bound. Lashburn was conversing with Ayros in 
ceremonious politeness. 

“ Isn’t that girl,” indicating Runa, “ rather — er — 
lively ? ” he asked. 

“ Yes,” said his companion scornfully, “ she is a Gha- 
wazee. A — well, you call them gypsies in England — : 
her mother was a Cairo street-dancer, and her father, — 
Humph ! the Prophet only knows.” 

“ Do you know,” said Lashburn, deliberately placing 
in his eye his single glass, “ your imperious beauty re- 
minds me of the paintings of Cleopatra.” 

“ Yes,” said Ayros, calmly accepting the flattery. 
“ I have often been told that I excel her in regal 
beauty.” 

“ There’s no doubt of it, no doubt of it,” said the 
son of Mulvaney, as enthusiastically as he was ca- 
pable of. 

“ My figure is more of the classical Greek type, I 
think, don’t you ? ” she asked, rising languidly and 
standing in engaging statuesque attitude. 

“ True, true,” was the response, as Lashburn re- 
garded the beautiful creature with the eye of a con- 
noisseur, and thinking to himself what excellent taste 
the old Pasha had. 

Ayros moved away, as if inclined for a walk, so Lash- 
burn naturally followed her. 

Meanwhile, Sir Richard was so completely engrossed 
with Runa that he did not notice Lashburn’s absence; 
while Lisba, in a subdued undertone, had been relating 
to Dolby her career from the time she deserted the 
Admiral, adding that at Vienna she had broken 
her ankle, and from that time had been unable to 
dance. 

She went on to relate how the Count had ill-treated 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


J 35 

her ; how she had drifted to Constantinople, where she 
met Zaras Pasha who had offered her marriage. “ Oh, 
I was a fool to leave the Admiral ; the dear old boy was 
very nice, ” she sighed in conclusion. 

Dolby sympathized with her truly pathetic recital, 
l ie was one of those suave handsome men, whom young 
ladies believed to be nice and good ; and whom middle- 
aged women intuitively knew to be refined and discreet ; 
so he was universally trusted and admired by the gentle 
sex. All at once Sir Richard discovered the absence 
of Lashburn and Ayros. 

“ Hallo ! ” he exclaimed, jumping up and glancing 
about the garden. “ I can’t allow this. Where’s 
that beggar, Lashburn ? Excuse me, Runa, I must 
keep my eye upon him.” 

So off he dashed, to find the missing diplomat, leaving 
Runa wondering what had come over him. Presently 
he returned, dragging Lashburn by the arm, and, 
shaking his forefinger at the culprit, protested : 

“ No, no, no, my boy, that won’t do.” 

“ What won’t do?” was the retort with an injured 
look. 

“ Ah, you sly young rogue ! ” 

“ What do you mean?” 

“ We agreed to keep together. Now, didn’t we? ” 

“ Yes, but I’m only going ” 

“ Oh, I know, I know ; but I wouldn’t if I were you,” 
winking at Lashburn. 

By this time Dolby and Lisba were strolling off in 
the opposite direction. Seeing them, the Q. C. im- 
patiently cried : “ Hist ! Hist ! ” but Dolby, paying no 
heed to the call, Sir Richard immediately shot after 
him, exclaiming : 

“ Well, upon my word ! Now he's off ! ” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE, 


136 

“ What ails the little man ? ” asked Runa, joining 
Lashburn and Ayros. 

“ Oh, he’s too confoundedly particular,” answered 
Lashburn irritably. 

“ He doesn’t look like a particular man, does he?” 
asked Runa with an arch glance. 

Sir Richard was now dragging Dolby by his Pasha’s 
gown back to his chair. 

“ Ha, ha ! ” he chuckled, “ you’re a sly dog, you are. 
Ha, ha! ho, ho! But it won’t do.” 

“ What do you mean, sir, what do you mean,” 
growled Dolby with burlesque ferocity. “ We were 
only discussing the influence of the moon.” 

“ But I can’t allow it, my boy,” with a nudge in the 
ribs, “ under the circumstances.” 

“ Oh come, come now, circumstances alter cases.” 

“ Ha, yes, yes ! Ha, ha ! but they never alter an old 
case like you, Dolby. Ha, ha, ha ! ” 

“ How dare you, sir ; insinuate ” continued Dol- 

by, in mock heroics. 

“ Come, come, we’ll have no more mooning,” broke 
in the Q. C., seriously. “ I’ve made myself responsible 
for the perfect propriety of this visit. Haven’t I, my 
dear ? ” appealing to Lisba, who was clinging lovingly 
to Dolby’s arm. 

Lisba smiled sweetly and nodded. 

“You! Pooh! pooh! It’s ridiculous ! ” exclaimed 
Dolby. 

Then Sir Richard whispered to the surgeon : 

“ Beware! beware! United we stand, divided we 
fall. Egad, I shall y if you don’t stand by me. She’d 
seduce a bishop,” nodding at Runa. 

Dolby laughed heartily at this, and observed to 
Lisba, 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


*37 

“ Oh, he’s been a regular Don Juan in his time, and 
yet he’s afraid to be left alone.” 

They now all seated themselves again, and Runa 
renewed her attentions to the impressionable Q. C. 

Lady Brattle, at the balcony above, looked on at all 
this with increasing amazement. Owing to her im- 
perfect vision she could not discern the Q. C.’s features 
at that distance, or clearly catch the tones of his voice ; 
yet there was something, she reflected, in the alert, 
volatile manner of the little Pasha below that reminded 
her of her husband ; but she put the thought away 
from her as an utter impossibility. Nelly Shy came 
and joined her for an instant, then observed : 

“ Isn’t this a circus ? Life in the harem ! ” 

“ Oh, it’s monstrous ! We’ll expose it. What creat- 
ures ! What a life ! ” cried her ladyship, in righteous 
indignation. 

“Aren’t you glad you came?” 

“ I wouldn’t have missed it for a peerage ! ” 

“ Won’t I make an article of this ! Listen ! ” 

“ Oh, let us go into the reception-room,” said Lisba, 
“ and Runa will dance for us. Won’t you, Runa? ” 

“ Yes, come along,” acquiesced Runa, grasping Sir 
Richard’s arm. And so they all trooped up the steps 
into the room which looked onto the garden. The 
wine and chairs were brought in ; then Runa, indicat- 
ing the divan at the centre of the room, said to the 
Q. C., “You shall be my Pasha, and have the place 
of honour, and the others shall be guests looking on.” 

Sir Richard climbed on to the luxurious divan, 
crossed his legs, Eastern fashion, drew his gown about 
him and inquired : “ How will this do ?” 

“ Very well, indeed, capital ! ” cried Dolby, laughing 
at the figure he presented. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


138 

“ I think I need a nargeeleh to make a perfect picture 
eh? ” 

“ Yes, yes,” said Runa, and quickly she brought the 
coil of pipe. 

“ Now let the revel begin,” said the throned advo- 
cate facetiously. “ Oh, by the way, Dolby, is my turban 
on straight ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, it will do, it will do.” 

“ You must first drink my health,” said Runa, pour- 
ing out a bumper for her admirer, and Lisba did the 
same for Dolby and Lashburn ; but the proud Ayros, 
though she exacted homage, gave none. 

“Now then, gentlemen,” cried Sir Richard, holding 
up his glass, “ to the health of Runa, the little fairy.” 

The toast was drunk and Runa left the room. In a 
few minutes she returned with a complete change of 
attire ; her kid slippers were replaced with soft felt shoes ; 
she had donned a fleecy veil, through which the plump 
outlines of her supple and shapely limbs were faintly 
visible. 

“ Does she dance well?” Lashburn asked his com- 
panion. 

“ I don’t think so. She postures and kicks too much 
for me ; yet some men are so weak that a girl’s vulgar 
antics enrapture them more than a modest kiss.” This 
was uttered with a haughty glance and a sneer at her 
supple rival. There was no music (except in Runa’s 
imagination), as she began modestly, silently, gliding 
here and there on the soft carpet ; at first contenting 
herself with graceful figures, until, little by little, her 
Arabian blood glowed in her cheeks and flashed from 
her dusky eyes; then she abandoned herself to the wild 
delirium of the dance. 

Gradually her fluttering feet and sensuous limbs be- 


ms EGYPT! AX WIFE. 


*39 


came more and more fascinating and irresistible to the 
eye ; she swayed to and fro in the most bewitching post- 
ures ; swirling and circling until her legs and arms ap- 
peared to be in hopeless tangle with her gauzy drapery ; 
but the fleecy fabric always unwound from her figure 
as if by magic, while she balanced herself for a moment 
on one toe. Then, with barely an instant to gain her 
breath, she whirled away again ; far madder, wilder, 
and more audacious than she had previously done, nod- 
ding her saucy head at one and another, her face half- 
hidden in her fluffy curls, flashing her drapery in their 
faces, and then suddenly darting off in another direc- 
tion, throwing her hips to the right and left in reckless, 
sensuous abandon, as if her body were all sinews. 

At length, when finally spent, with a faint ecstatic 
cry, she threw herself on the divan beside Sir Richard, 
her head on his knee, her glistening merry eyes looking 
up into his, her breast rising and swelling, as she lay 
panting and gasping for breath. 

“ Bravo ! bravo ! ” they all enthusiastically ap- 
plauded, with the exception of Ayros, who looked on 
with undisguised disdain. 

When Runa had sufficiently recovered to speak, she 
nestled up to Sir Richard’s breast, and asked : 

“ Did it please you, my sweet Pasha ? ” 

“ It was divine, my dear, simply divine ! ” patting 
her burning cheeks. 

At this point Ayros led Lashburn from the room, 
saying, “ Come, I cannot endure her. She is positively 
vulgar. In this ante-room we shall have a fine view of 
the bay by moonlight.” So they stole away. 

When Runa had nearly recovered her breath, and 
while her breast was still heaving against the Q. C’s 
shoulder, she asked : 


140 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Can you dance, my gay Pasha ? ” 

“ Oh, can’t I ? You should see me.” 

“ But not the Egyptian style.” 

“ No, no. But in my time, I’ve done the light fan- 
tastic with the volatile French, the seductive Italian, 
and the voluptuous Viennese. I only require your 
ethereal Egyptian to complete my happiness. Will 
you teach me, my dear ? ” 

“ Yes. Come on ! ” cried Runa, bounding on to the 
carpet. “ Just watch me first,” and off she glided 
again, swaying and swirling as light as a bird, and with 
the grace of a fawn. 

What with the wine, and the blandishments of the 
fascinating creature before, him, the Q. C. could no 
longer restrain himself. His blood was aflame. 

Runa held out her arms. 

He dashed his turban to the floor, revealing his bald 
head, and, clasping Runa in his arms, capered about the 
room with her in a mad, reckless whirl. 

Lisba and Dolby clapped their hands, and encour- 
aged them. 

Lady Brattle, when her spouse threw off his turban, 
and exposed his shining cranium, completely lost con- 
trol of herself and screamed : 

“ Oh, the reprobate ! The reprobate ! It’s Dick ! 
It’s Dick ! ” and rushed away along the passage cry- 
ing : “ Oh, I’ll teach that hussy a lesson in danc- 

ing.” 

Sir Richard, hearing the well-known voice, suddenly 
stopped, listened, and asked, “ What was that ? I could 
swear I heard the voice of Betsy ! Ha, ha,” he added, 
with a sickly smile, “ it was only my accusing con- 
science.” 

After a pause he drew off his Pasha’s gown, and 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


141 

was preparing for another dance, when they were all 
startled by a loud, blustering voice in the hall. 

Runa and Lisba turned pale. 

“ Great Jupiter ! What is that ? ” asked Sir Richard 
in alarm. 

“ Bateekah, and the Pasha ! They have returned ! 
Go, go ! ” urged Runa wildly. 

“ Returned ! Great God ! ” exclaimed Dolby and 
the Q. C. at once, in utter consternation. 

“ Run for your lives L” cried Lisba, hurrying away 
to a door on the left. 

The two intruders required no more urging ; they 
dashed down the garden as if the old boy was after 
them. 

Reaching the garden door they found it locked, for of 
course Lashburn, who was spooning in the ante-room, 
had the key secure in his pocket. They damned Lash- 
burn for a dolt. 

What was to be done ? 

They heard the Pasha’s sonorous voice demanding 
of the frightened Zeyneb, “ Where are my wives ? 
Where is Abloo? Look in the garden, Bateekah.” 

Sir Richard and Dolby were rushing excitedly about 
in search of some means to scale the twelve-foot wall. 

They heard Bateekah coming down the gravel walk. 

Sir Richard’s knees were knocking together like 
a pair of cymbals. All at once, Dolby discovered a 
ladder, which the old gardener had left near by. Up 
this they scrambled and, reaching the top in safety, 
jumped down to the soft sand below, and dashed off to 
the hotel as fast as frenzy would carry them. 

Meantime, Nelly and Lady Brattle had lost their 
way in the rooms above, but finally found the stair- 
case. Then her ladyship, frantic with rage at her in- 


142 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


constant spouse, rushed into the reception-room, fol- 
lowed by Nelly. Zeyneb was just telling the Pasha he 
had lady visitors, when Lady Brattle burst into the 
room, and was confronted with Le Zaras. 

“ Gracious Heavens ! ” exclaimed her ladyship, recoil- 
ing. “ My first husband ! ” 

“ Your what ? ” cried Nelly, incredulously. 

The Pasha was as much surprised as she was, but 
quickly taking in the situation, said with a calm, sarcas- 
tic smile: “lam please to zee you, ladies. You are 
welcome. You wish to spend ze night in ze harem? 
Eh, ees it not zo ? ” 

“Thanks,” said Nelly, “ that’s just what I’m hanker- 
ing after.” 

“ No, no, no,” protested the frenzied wife. 

“You prefer a chamber togazer?” he continued, 
ignoring his former wife. “ It shall be zo. Zeyneb, 
show ze ladies to a chamber.” 

As the menial was about to obey him, he called her 
aside, and hissed in her ear, “ If you let them escape, 
I’ll strangle you ! ” With this, he waved them away, 
giving his quaking wife a triumphant look, which 
caused her to reel and grasp Nelly’s arm for support 
as they left the room. 

By this time, the major-domo, Bateekah, had re- 
turned. 

“ See who is in the ante-room,” said the Pasha ; 
“ I hear some one talking with Ayros.” 

Bateekah did as he was ordered, and immediately 
returned, dragging Lord Lashburn by the ear, and 
Ayros following, looking haughty, rebellious, and 
defiant. 

“ By the beard of the Prophet ! ” roared the Pasha, 
when he beheld the trembling culprit. “ Do you 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*43 

know the consequences of being caught alone with my 
wife ? ” 

“ I — I — can’t say I do. Sir, I assure you ” 

“Hound! To-morrow you die!” thundered Le 
Zaras. 

Lashburn’s legs refused to support him ; he sank on 
the carpet a craven, paralyzed heap, for all Karava 
had said rushed into his mind. 


144 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


CHAPTER XV. 

ELSIE GETS A LETTER FROM HER FATHER. 

How came Zaras Pasha to return to his harem so 
unexpectedly ? Like all sensual men, he was exceed- 
ingly jealous of his women. Something in her manner, 
and in the tone of Lisba’s voice, when she asked him 
that evening if he would return late, and the way she 
had chided him for leaving them so often alone, had 
roused his suspicions. So, consulting his major-domo, 
Bateekah, who he found shared his views of the matter, 
he decided to excuse himself to his master at the ear- 
liest moment, and surprise his family ; as we have seen, 
he did. 

But let us return for a little to Dane and his doings. 
Sidney spent a day of expectation waiting for the 
promised letter to Elsie. He had seen her two or three 
times that day, and she seemed greatly perplexed at 
the prolonged absence of Nelly and Lady Brattle; for 
of course they had not returned. 

“ I suspect,” she said, “ Miss Shy has taken her to 
see some out-of-the-way sight, which has taken longer 
than they calculated, and, as they could not get back 
till late, they have decided to stay the night.” 

“ But didn’t your aunt tell you where she was going ? ” 
asked Sidney. 

“ No only that it was a rare sight and they would not 
return till late.” 

Elsie did not see her Uncle Dick until midday, when 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*45 

he came limping along the hotel verandah; for, in 
jumping from the wall of the Pasha’s garden to the 
sand the night before he had injured his knee. 

“ Why, Uncle Dick ! ” she exclaimed, as he appeared, 
“ what is the matter ? You are lame.” 

“ Oh, it’s nothing, my dear. It’s nothing,” replied 
the Q. C., unconsciously looking as penitent as a brow- 
beaten collie. 

“ But you wince at every stride,” persisted the girl. 
“ How did it happen ? ” 

“ Eh ? Oh, well, you see — er — it was all through 
that dare-devil, Dolby. We were returning leisurely 
home last night along the beach — and we came to a 
ditch and Dolby dared me to jump it with him. Well, 
I was foolish enough to attempt it, and so landed in the 
ditch and injured my knee. I ought to have known 
better than to undertake such a reckless feat at my 
age.” 

“ I should think so. But I’m so sorry. Are you 
sure it is not seriously injured ? ” asked Elsie sym- 
pathetically. 

“ Oh, no. Dolby examined it, and says it will be all 
right in a day or two. By the way, my dear, where is 
your aunt ? ” 

“ Oh, neither she nor Miss Shy have yet returned.” 

Sir Richard offered up a silent prayer to Heaven for 
a mercy which he did not deserve ; for he had pur- 
posely absented himself from the breakfast-table that 
he might not encounter the searching gaze of his ex- 
acting spouse. His accusing conscience told him he 
could not look her in the face without betraying 
himself. Now, when he learned she had been out all 
night, his spirits rose. If there was to be any upbraid- 
ing, he was going to do it ; he was to be the injured 
10 


146 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


party. He knew he looked seedy, for his face was pale, 
his head ached, and his eyes were slightly swollen, and 
all day he kept saying to himself : “ It’s no use, Dick, 
you can’t stand the larks you used to do. You’re 
getting old.” 

Early in the afternoon Bateekah brought Sidney the 
expected letter, and in it there was one for Elsie. 

The latter just then happened to be in her room, so 
Sidney, knocking at her door, said, as she opened it : 

“ Excuse me for troubling you, but I am requested 
to give you this at once.” Then, after she had thanked 
him, he hastened away to peruse his own letter. 
Though brief it greatly interested him. 

“ My dear young Friend : 

“ I have gained the consent of Elsie’s father to your 
marriage with his daughter, and hope to bring you 
Lady Brattle’s consent when we meet. You shall find 
me at the Hotel Khedive at three o’clock. With my 
warmest regards 

“ Cordially yours, 

“ Zaras Pasha.” 

“ Lady Brattle’s consent,” mused Sidney; “ there is 
something more in this than I can fathom. What 
power has he over her father and Lady Brattle too ? ” 

If Dane was surprised at his letter, Elsie was simply 
astounded at hers. It was also brief, and ran as fol- 
lows : 

“ My dear Child : 

“ I only learned last night you were in Alexandria. 
I am impatient to see you again. I will send you a 
carriage to bring you to the Hotel Khedive at two 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*47 

o’clock. Do not be alarmed about your mother, she 
is with me. Ask at the hotel for Zaras Pasha ; that 
is my rank in Egypt. 

“ Your devoted father, 

“ Victor Le Zaras. 

Elsie dropped the letter, and sank into a chair dumb- 
founded. Her father in Alexandria! And her mother 
visiting him ! “ I must be dreaming,” she cried, then 

took up the letter and read it again. “ Do not be 
alarmed about your mother, she is with me." Yes, 
there it was, there was no mistake about it. For 
some moments she sat and pondered. All at once she 
remembered that her mother and Sir Richard had seri- 
ously quarrelled the night before, and had hardly 
spoken since. Had her mother, in a fit of anger, 
returned to her father ? She considered the matter in 
every light and was hugely puzzled ; yet that was the 
only explanation she could find for her mother’s seem 
ingly unaccountable conduct. 

While she was still pondering the matter, an attend- 
ant came to announce that a carriage was waiting for 
her at the door. 

Elsie glanced at her watch. Yes, it was nearly two 
o’clock. She hastily put on her things, descended the 
stairs, entered the carriage, and was driven off to the 
Hotel Khedive. 

There, in a private suite of rooms, she met her 
father, and, sure enough, in the garb of a Pasha. 
After an effusive but affectionate welcome, she asked : 

“ But where is mamma? ” 

“At ze Villa Karava.” 

“ Your villa? ” 

“ Yes.” 


148 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Alone ? ” 

“ Oh, no. Zare is with her an American.” 

“ Nellie Shy ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Did — er — mamma come of her own free will ? ” 
anxiously asked the girl. 

“ Yes, oh, yes ! ” rejoined the Pasha, with an amused 
smile. 

“ Well, I — I cannot understand it. Pray how did 
you come to know that I was at the Palace Hotel ? ” 

“ From your lover, ma chere .” 

“ My lover?” Elsie blushed, for her father was 
watching her closely. 

“ Lieutenant Dane. You do love him, mon enfant, 
do you not? Ah, I know ze tell-tale blush. You do 
love him, ma chere ? ” he continued, tenderly. 

“Yes, papa, I do — and he loves me,” she admitted 
with natural modesty. 

“ Zat I know — and you shall marry him, mon 
enfant .” 

“ But how came you to know Sidney ? ” 

He briefly told her how he had first met young Dane. 
“ You shall marry him ; for of all ze men in ze world he 
is ze one I would select for you.” 

“ But mamma will not consent.” 

“ Not yet, but she will,” replied the Pasha, with such 
a dark frown as his child had never seen on his olive 
face before. “ Zat does not matter,” he continued, 
“ your father consents ; zat ees enough.” 

“ Does he know that you are my father ? ” Elsie 
asked with some misgiving. 

“ No, zat ees not necessary. I — I have ” The 

Pasha’s voice here broke, and tears were in his voice 
and precious near his eyes. “ I have not been a 


HIS EGYPTIAN IVIFE. 


149 


father to be proud of — I ” The old profligate had 

a tender heart, and if he ever felt remorse of an ill- 
spent life he felt it now. “ I am ashame of your father, 
if you are not.” He looked at his child wistfully. 

“ No, no, father,” cried Elsie, with a swelling heart, 
“ I am not ashamed to own you ; you are my father, 
that is ” 

He clasped her in his arms with a fierce paternal em- 
brace before she could complete the sentence. And 
when he released her, there were glistening tears in 
both their eyes. 

Before they had fairly recovered, Sidney was an- 
nounced, and duly shown into the apartment. 

He was greatly surprised to find Elsie in the Pasha’s 
company, and looked from one to the other question- 
ingly. 

The Pasha gave him little time for reflection. “ Zis 
ees ze lady, you tell me of ? ” he asked. 

“ Yes,” replied Sidney, still speculating on their 
relations. 

i( And you love her ? ” 

“ Yes — but, I don’t understand ” 

“ Never mind. I have kept my promise. I have 
seen her father. I have gain his consent, as I wrote 
you. Now there is nothing in the way. You can 
marry her, eh ? ” The erst commodore’s face was 
radiant with enjoyment at the young lieutenant’s 
puzzled countenance. 

“ I am bewildered ! I — I ” wonder choked his 

utterance. “ It seems as if a benefactor had suddenly 
dropped from the clouds. What does it all mean, 
Elsie ? ” 

“ Oh,. Sidney ! Sidney!” burst forth the girl. “I 
cannot allow you to be deceived, though I have un- 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


* 5 ° 

willingly kept a secret from you. Lady Brattle is my 
mother, and this gentleman is my father.” 

Le Zaras gravely bowed in confirmation and said : 
“ Yes, ze unworthy father of zis sweet girl.” 

If Sidney was puzzled before, he was now simply 
dumfounded ; he could frame no reply ; what could a 
man say, he thought to himself when a family secret 
was thus suddenly sprung upon him, and by the one 
most concerned. 

It was an awkward moment for all three ; Le Zaras 
went and looked out of the window to conceal his 
emotion. 

“ I kept the secret for my mother’s sake,” continued 
Elsie ; “ not because I was ashamed of the separation 
between my parents, or because I feared that you 
would waver in your constancy if you knew the — 

the ” she broke off, puzzled to find a suitable word 

to delicately express her meaning. 

The Pasha promptly supplied it. “ Zee truth about 
her profligate father. She is brave, zis child of mine. 
Ah ! I feel unworthy of her loyal devotion.” 

“ And I am proud of the faith she places in me,” 
said Sidney ardently. “ Whatever may have been the 
cause of your divorce, Monsieur Le Zaras, it can have 
no effect upon my attachment for Elsie. She has 
proved as loyal to me as she has to you, in spite of the 
insidious advice of Lady Brattle and the temptation 
of a wealthy admirer with a noble title.” 

“ Ah, Sidney,” cried the girl, clasping his hand shyly, 
“ you give me too much credit. If one is not covetous 
one cannot be tempted. I saw nothing to covet in his 
lordship or his title ” 

“You mean zat Lashburn?” asked her father, turn- 
ing to Sidney, 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


I 5 I 

Sidney assented. 

“ Ah, he is out of ze race. Ha, ha, ha ! And I will 
keep him out,” with a sardonic smile. 

“ Now tell me about mamma,” said Elsie ; “ why did 
she come to you ? ” 

“ Zat I must find out from her husband — hem. Yes, 
we will say her husband for ze time being. Sir Richard 
Brattle, was he at ze hotel when you came here ? ” he 
asked of Sidney, evading the girl’s anxious look. 

“ Yes, he’s not feeling well to-day.” 

“ Ah, zat is good ! I have some business with him. 
I wish very much to consult ze great advocate,” con- 
tinued the Pasha, with a smile and chuckle that 
disturbed his daughter. Elsie felt instinctively he was 
concealing something from her. 

As they together left the hotel, Le Zaras turned to 
Sidney and said : 

“ I need not ask you to escort your fiancee back to 
ze hotel — you will do so with every care ? Or better — 
take her for a little drive— you have her father’s consent. 
Ha, ha, ha ! and he shook all over with that jovial 
laugh of his. “ And zat will give me time for consult- 
ing ze great Q. C. Adieu, mon ami. Adieu, ma chere .” 
Then kissing the girl tenderly, he climbed into his 
carriage and was driven off. 

The spectacle of the great fat, black-bearded Pasha 
kissing the bright, golden-haired English girl, aston- 
ished the guests who happened to be loitering in front 
of the Hotel Khedive, and naturally filled them with 
speculation as to their relations. 

Sidney quickly summoned a carriage, and the happy 
pair set out for a drive. They were only too glad of 
the opportunity, for they had much to talk about ; still 
Elsie was troubled as to the conduct of her mother. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


* 5 2 


CHAPTER XVI. 

ZARAS PASHA CALLS UPON SIR RICHARD. 

Sir Richard was reclining on a couch in his room at 
the hotel, with an open novel before him, for his in- 
jured knee was rather painful. Though he was read- 
ing, he could not have told what the story was about ; 
for his mind was constantly recurring to the events of 
the night before, and his miraculous escape. While he 
was thus musing and speculating on what had hap- 
pened to poor Lashburn, and wondering why Karava 
Bey had not called, the chamberlain of the hotel came 
to tell him there was a gentleman below who wished 
to speak with him. 

“ He did not give his name, sir,” said the func- 
tionary, “ but said he was an old friend of yours.” 

“A native ? ” enquired the Q. C. 

“ Yes, Sir Richard, he seems to know you.” 

“ Oh, ask him to come up.” It will be Karava he 
thought to himself. But, instead of Karava, the pon- 
derous figure of Zaras Pasha came puffing into the 
room. The two men had never met before, and Sir 
Richard had not the slightest idea this was his prede- 
cessor. He saw at once, by his costume, that he was a 
Pasha, and he felt a sudden quaking at his heart lest 
he might be the Pasha whose wife he had danced with 
the night before, who had come to demand satisfaction 
for the outrage. 

“ I beg your pardon,” he observed with a husky, fal- 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*53 

tering voice, “ there must be some mistake. I have not 
the pleasure of your acquaintance — I — I think ?” 

“ No,” said the Pasha, “ but I know you." This was 
said with a sonorous voice and a sardonic smile which 
filled the Q. C. with dread, for he said to himself : “ It 
must be he ; and, egad, he’s found me out.” How- 
ever, he summoned up courage to say with an effort at 
indifference, “ I’m sorry I cannot reciprocate the — er 
— pleasure.” 

“You will presently.” 

This reply was more portentous to the guilty 
listener than ever. As a matter of fact, Le Zaras had 
not the least notion that the man before him was one 
of the marauders of the previous evening ; for, though 
Bateekah had found the turban and gown the Q. C. 
had left behind him, yet, as chance would have it, one 
of the pockets contained Karava’s visiting card ; so the 
Pasha had at once jumped to the conclusion that 
Karava was the real offender. 

“ I know you,” continued the Pasha, “ for your repu- 
tation as an advocate is as wide as ze world.” He 
paused. “ Shall we sit ? ” he asked. 

“ Certainly, certainly,” assented the advocate, indi- 
cating a chair, and glad of the hint, for he was by no 
means at ease on his legs. 

“ I wish to consult you, Sir Richard, on a very deli- 
cate point of law.” This he said, drawing up his chair 
and facing the advocate. 

“ Pardon me,” said the Q. C., “ I did not catch your 
name?” This was said evasively, yet determinedly, to 
set his tortured mind at rest as to the identity of his 
visitor. 

“ I am Commodore Zaras Pasha, in ze service of his 
Majesty ze Khedive.” 


T 54 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


His listener turned a shade paler and bowed ; he 
could not trust himself to speak ; for here he was face 
to face with the very man he had wronged. “ What 
diabolical purpose had the ponderous Mohammedan 
in seeking him alone?’' he mused to himself. 

“ I live at ze Villa Karava.” 

“ He’s coming to the point at last/’ thought the 
Q. C. “Now I’m in for it.” 

“ You know ze place, eh ? ” 

The learned counsel nodded again, for his tongue 
was now dry as a ball of cotton, and as useless for 
articulation. 

“ You have not been zare ? ” 

“ I’ve passed it,” ventured his listener, determined 
not to commit himself. 

“ Well, it is on ze Remlah Road. Now a lady came 
to me zare last night and joined my harem of her own 
will. Many years ago — it ees twenty I zink — I marry 
her in ze East. She left me and went to England and 
obtained a divorce.” 

“Now, what’s he driving at? ’’thought the Q. C. 
“ What has the lady to do with my reckless escapade of 
last night ? ” 

“You do not listen?” said the Pasha, noting his 
abstraction. 

“Yes, yes,” said the other with a start. “Oh, I’m 
following you, I’m following you.” 

“ Now, zis ees ze point,” said the Pasha, leaning for- 
ward and emphasizing his speech with his plump fore- 
finger, and a fiendish smile on his rotund visage, 
“ does ze divorce obtain in England hold good, when 
ze wife leaves her present husband and freely returns 
to me here in Egypt. Can he claim her? Is she not 
my Egyptian wife ” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*55 

The now relieved Q. C. reflected a moment and then 
answered : “ The English courts have no jurisdiction 
in Egypt. But where were you married ? ” 

“ In Calcutta.” 

“ Was she a British subject ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And you ? ” 

“ I — I am not a British subject.” 

“ On what grounds was the divorce obtained ? ” 

“ Cruelty and desertion — I have hear.” 

“ Hum ! Were there any children ? ” 

“ One.’' 

“ The court gave her the custody of the child of 
course? ” 

“ I have just learn ze child was not mention to ze 
court.” 

“ Not mentioned! Absurd. What was her counsel 
thinking of? ” 

“ Ze lady was zen young and attractive. She did 
not care to have ze world know of her child. She 
deceive ze man she wished to marry, and ze court too.” 

“ Then the husband would be entitled to the custody 
of the child.” 

“ Are you quite sure ? ” eagerly asked the Pasha, the 
whites of his great black eyes dilating. 

“ Quite. And if you are a citizen of France, it is a 
debatable point whether the English court could grant 
a legal divorce. Consequently her second marriage 
may be illegal — bigamous.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! ” suddenly burst forth the Pasha. “ Zat 
is good ! It was illegal — it is bigamous ! Ha, ha, ha ! 
You are a keen counsellor. A wise advocate ! ” bring- 
ing his ponderous hand down on Sir Richard’s injured 
knee in a way that made him groan inwardly. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


*56 

The Q. C. thought his unwelcome guest had suddenly 
lost his reason, he seemed so absurdly hilarious about 
a trifling point of law. 

“ I shall pay your fee with ze greatest pleasure,” 
continued Le Zaras, “ for you have discover a flaw I 
never zink of.” 

Ha, ha, ha ! it is bigamous if I am a citizen of 
France,” and he roared again. “ Zat is great satisfaction 
to me.” 

Sir Richard had by this time come to the conclusion 
that, by some miraculous chance, the Pasha was not 
aware of his doings the night previous ; so his spirits 
rose accordingly. 

“ I may snap my fingers at ze decree — is it so ? ” 

“ Yes. Her counsel must have been an imbecile not 
to have cautioned her on that point.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! He was an imbecile, for he wanted to 
marry her.” 

“ And did he?” 

“Yes, and now she come back to me. You zee 
ze point ? ” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! ” laughed the advocate, “ that’s a rare 
joke. What fools we men are when we become 
infatuated with a pretty woman.” 

“We are! We are ! Ha, ha, ha ! And ze best of 
ze joke is, he brought her to Egypt.” 

“ Oh ! then he’s here ? ” 

“Yes, here: zare is ze point of ze joke. Ha, ha, 
ha ! ” 

The Q. C. couldn’t quite see where the point came 
in, therefore he did not join in his visitor’s merriment. 
Nor could he understand why the Pasha looked so 
meaningly at him every time he mentioned the doting 
husband. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*57 

“ There is one point,” he said, after a moment’s 
reflection, “ you must not lose sight of ; you will have 
to prove the existence of the child.” 

“ Ah, zat can be done, for ze girl is here.” 

“ Oh, this is a remarkable coincidence.” 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! ” roared the Pasha, “ it is ; and Betsy 
is a remarkable woman.” 

“ Betsy,” exclaimed the Q. C. “ Is her name Betsy ? ” 
something in the other’s face alarmed him, and he sud- 
denly felt a sickening at the heart. 

The Pasha nodded, and again burst into an uncon- 
trollable roar of laughter. 

“ I must leave you, my friend,” he said rising, “ but 
I can assure you zat I shall pay for your legal opinion 
with ze greatis satisfaction. Send ze bill to ze Villa 
Karava. It shall be paid at once.” 

Sir Richard had mechanically got up and was uncon- 
sciously pacing the room, his mind in a tumult of doubt 
and conjecture. 

“ Ah ! you are lame ! ” cried the Pasha. “ How did it 
happen ? ” 

Sir Richard glanced sharply at him, wondering if this 
was sarcasm. Did he know, after all, what had hap- 
pened last night ? 

“ Eh ? Oh, it’s nothing — a — a mere touch of the 
gout,” he answered airily. 

“ I hope it will be better — a thousand zanks for your 
legal opinion. Adieu ! ” And with a radiant but 
rather sinister smile his visitor bowed himself out of 
the room. 

For some minutes after Le Zaras had gone, Sir 
Richard paced the room in an agitated frame of mind. 
He said to himself : 

“ There was no mistaking his pointed allusion to the 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


x 5 8 

counsel — how he laughed when I called him an imbecile. 
The familiar way he used the term ‘ Betsy/ and the 
malicious smile he gave me. Great God ! Can it be my 
wife ! No, no, it’s preposterous ! And yet she may 
have concealed the fact from me. Lynx and Lunx 
prepared her case ; she may have imposed upon them. 
I was so fascinated with her that it never occurred to 
me to enquire whether she’d had a child by Le Zaras.” 
The mention of this name suddenly brought to his 
mind something he had not noticed before. The 
Pasha’s name was identical with the simple omission of 
the prefix Le Zaras. 

“ By Heaven ! ” he cried, “ the case looks black, look 
at it as I will. She quarrelled with me over Sidney. 
She insolently refused to tell me where she was going 
last night. She has not returned. Can she, in a fit of 
anger, have gone back to this gross mountain of flesh ? 
No, no, no ! I will not entertain the thought; this is 
but the distorted reasoning of a feverish brain.” He 
threw himself upon the couch, and, with a mental effort, 
endeavoured to consider the matter calmly. Suddenly 
he bethought him of Elsie ; she would perhaps by this 
time have received some communication from her 
aunt. He got up, crossed the corridor, and knocked 
at her door. Receiving no reply, he entered, but of 
course she was not there. He was turning to leave the 
chamber when his eye caught sight of the note which 
Elsie had received from her father, and which in her 
agitation she had left on her dressing-table. Thinking 
it might contain the information he sought, Sir Richard 
seized the sheet and eagerly scanned its contents. 
When he had done so, he abruptly exclaimed, “By 
Heaven ! it was Betsy. She has gone to him ! And 
Elsie is the child ! ” He read the lines again. “ Do 


Ills EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*59 


not be alarmed about your mother, she is with me. 
Your devoted father, Victor Le ZarasZ “ Yes, yes,’* 
groaned the Q. C. to himself, sinking into a chair, 
there can no longer be any doubt of it. She has gone 
back to him of her own free will. Oh Betsy, Betsy ! ” 
he pathetically lamented, “ I did not think you would 
treat me like this,” and he buried his head in his hands, 
utterly unnerved. “Yes, yes,” he mused, “the Pasha 
did know of my doings with Runa — perhaps looking 
on all the time — and this is the crafty way he revenges 
himself. Oh, Dick ! Dick ! you have been an ass ! 
Induced to give a legal opinion against yourself. And 
Betsy prefers this gigantic old porpoise to me. Well, 
well, it serves me right ! It serves me right ! ” 


i6o 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

LADY BRATTLE MEETS LE ZARAS — HIS EGYPTIAN 
WIFE. 

Lady Brattle had swooned when she found that 
she was hopelessly in the power of her first husband. 
When she recovered she was in one of the most luxu- 
riously appointed chambers of the harem, with Nelly 
Shy tenderly ministering to her wants. 

“ Oh, Miss Shy/’ she lamented, looking wildly about, 
“ are we still in this dreadful place ? ” 

“Yes. But don’t distress yourself. It’s very com- 
fortable, and a real novelty.” 

“ Couldn’t you bribe that hag to let us escape ? ” 

“ No. That hideous monster, Bateekah caught me 
chinning to her, and dragged her off ; so we can’t rely 
on her.” 

“ Oh, dear! dear ! how shall we ever get out ? ” cried 
her companion piteously. 

“ Don’t fret ! Don’t fret ! That volatile husband 
of yours will find you’re missing, and, perhaps, make 
enquiries.” 

“ But I did not tell him where I was going. Oh, Miss 
Shy, I shall go mad. You don’t know the villainy of 
this man! Oh, why, why did you ever bring me 
here?” 

“ How should I know,” said Nelly impatiently, “ that 
you had a lost husband roaming about the world.” 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 1 6 1 

“ Oh, how can you jest when you know you are to 
blame for all this? ” 

“ Blame! Blame? Wal, I should say praise. For 
how could you correctly describe a night in the harem 
if you hadn’t slept thar. You wanted to get here, so 
did I. It’s like the forbidden fruit ; we women can 
never believe it’s bitter until we’ve tasted for ourselves. 
You’ve tasted and find it bitter. I must say I like it ; 
it’s a novelty.” 

“ Oh, Miss Shy ! Miss Shy ! how can you jest ! ” 
wringing her hands in an agony of mind. “ I ” 

“ It’s no jest — it’s business. Now,” she said sooth- 
ingly, “ I advise you to simmer down and go to bed. 
That what I’m going to do. I don’t let no Pasha 
worry me. Not much!” and Nelly coolly began to 
disrobe. 

“ Can’t we burst this casement, and call for help ? ” 
asked her distracted companion. 

“ Try it,” rejoined Nelly, calmly removing her stock- 
ings. “ I guess you’ll find it difficult. You see the 
window is latticed criss-cross, so that you couldn’t 
drop even a note out if you wanted to. Now, take my 
advice and go to bed.” 

“Your calmness simply exasperates me,” cried her 
friend. “You don’t think of my compromising position 
— what my husband will think when he learns where 
I’ve spent the night ! ” 

“Which husband?” asked Nelly drily, deliberately 
folding up her corsets, and placing them away as if in 
her hotel. 

“ Now, that is simply cruel of you,” cried her lady- 
ship, and then throwing herself on the bed she burst 
into a hysterical fit of sobbing. 

“ My dear Lady Brattle, I did not mean it to be 
ii 


162 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


cruel, I assure you. Now, pray calm yourself, for you 
are not in the slightest clanger.” 

“ But suppose that monster should come here and 
insist upon seeing me ? ” 

“ He’d have to make room in his ponderous heart 
for a little piece of lead, if he did,” was the confident 
rejoinder. 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ You don’t suppose I’m going round the world with- 
out an escort?” asked Nelly, indicating a tiny silver- 
plated revolver she had placed by the bedside. 

“ Goodness gracious ! you are the most fearless 
woman I ever met. Would you dare to use it?” 

“ Certainly I would, if the man attempted any reck- 
less sociability. So, good-night, I’m going to sleep,” 
and jumping into bed, the nerveless creole was very 
soon peacefully dreaming. Lady Brattle, on the con- 
trary, spent a sleepless night of mental torture, starting 
up at every sound she heard, which she dreaded might 
be a stealthy footstep. 

About nine o’clock in the morning, while they were 
still in bed, and as Lady Brattle was just concluding 
the narrative of her unfortunate marriage with Le 
Zaras, Zeyneb brought them their breakfast. 

“Wal, now, this is real gentlemanly of him,” cried 
Nelly, “ for I’m hungry as a tramp. And I suppose 
this is the harem custom, eh, Zeney ? ” 

Without any delay, the American made a hearty 
breakfast ; but her companion ate nothing. As the at- 
tendant was leaving, she said the Pasha would like a 
chat with them en famille when they were at leisure. 

Lady Brattle was at once alarmed and demurred, 
but Nelly said, “ Now, don’t be sheared. I’ll stick to 
you like a porous plaster.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


163 

The unfortunate wife had begun to have confidence 
in her indomitable friend ; so, after a little more pen 
suasion, they dressed and descended to the reception- 
room. 

It was a delightful spring morning, and a faint breeze 
wafted the odour of flowers into the room — the room 
which had been the scene of Sir Richard’s capering the 
night previous. 

As they entered, the Pasha, dressed in a magnifi- 
cent orange-coloured silk gown, was seated on a divan, 
with Runa nestling lovingly up to him on the right 
and Lisba on the left. Nelly at once concluded this 
had been arranged for effect. They were evidently 
talking of the affair of last night, for the Pasha asked : 

“ But how did Ayros smuggle in this English dolt 
without your seeing her? ” 

The wives exchanged alarmed glances across his 
rotund stomach, then Runa innocently replied : “ We 
can’t imagine how.” 

“ No,” said Lisba; “ for we were reading here ” 

“ When all at once we missed her,” put in Runa. 
“ Then went to look for her, and — and ” 

“ Hum-m? Well?” looking from one to the other 
suspiciously. 

“ We heard strange voices, and ” 

“ Were frightened, and ran and hid ourselves,” broke 
in Lisba, looking as chaste and truthful as a Madonna. 

“ But there was another. Bateekah found his tur- 
ban and gown ? ” said the Pasha. 

“ Yes, there were two,” assented Runa, “ because you 
remember, Lisba, one of them seemed to be trying to 
prevent the other coming.” 

“ Yes, yes, I remember,” agreed Lisba, “ my opinion 
is, sweet father,” stroking the old dupe’s beard caress- 


164 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


ingly, “ that Ayros is innocent of any wrong. This 
brute was tipsy and followed and insulted her, and she 
fled, and — and just then you came.” 

This was the story the wives had agreed upon among 
themselves. 

The Pasha did not seem convinced by this expla- 
nation and answered : “ Well, she must remain in con- 
finement until she confesses the truth.” 

“ Wal, ain’t he a peony — in full bloom ! ” cried Nelly, 
when she beheld the Pasha with a wife on each side of 
him. 

“ Ah, good-morning, ladies,” said Le Zaras in French. 
“ I hope you have slept well.” 

“ Thanks, never better,” replied the American cheer- 
fully. 

“ And you, my lady ? ” he asked, with a sinister smile 
at his former wife. 

Lady Brattle turned from him with a look of bitter 
aversion. 

“ That charming woman, my dears,” he said sar- 
castically, “ is my wife. She ran away from my harem 
in Burmah. Is she not superb for her age ? ” 

“You know you lie, you vile monster !” screamed 
Lady Brattle, turning upon him fiercely. 

“ There, there, Betsy. If you wish to have one of 
our old enjoyable scenes, I must ask these ladies to 
excuse us.” He spoke in French as he had been doing 
with his wives, and in that tongue the interview 
continued. 

“ I have not the pleasure of your name,” he said, 
turning to the American. 

“Nelly Shy, Chicago Ladies' Journal]' she answered 

affably. 

“ I’m delighted to meet you, Miss, or Mrs. Shy?” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


l6 S 

“ Miss,” said Nelly. 

“ Ah, you are a dashing woman ; there must be many 
disconsolate bachelors in America in your absence.” 

“ I’ve never found one quite up to my size.” Then, 
with a wink, she added, — “ Now, if I’d happened to 
meet you — — ” 

“ Ah, you are lively, via belle" 

“ And you are gay — as Solomon,” she retorted 
drily. 

“ Ha, ha ! But you will excuse me ; I have not had 
a good talk with my dear Betsy here for many years. 
Runa and Lisba will show you the garden.” 

“ No, no, no, no ! ” cried Lady Brattle “ You must 
not leave me, Miss Shy; I won’t be left alone with this 
unscrupulous reprobate.” 

“ Now don’t you get rattled,” whispered Nelly. 
“You’ve got to listen to what he says, and find out 
what he intends to do. Don’t you fret ! I’ll keep near, 
and if he attempts any familiarity, you just yell.” So 
with this she sauntered off with Runa and Lisba and 
at once began to interview them on their experience of 
harem life. 

“Take a seat, Betsy,” said the Pasha, “ and let us 
have an old-fashioned chat.” His victim tremblingly 
complied. 

“ Now, you see, I’m more hospitable than you were 
when I called on you last year. You drove me from 
your house ; I welcome you — yes, with open arms, for 
you are the only woman I ever really loved with a last- 
ing passion.” 

“ I’ll not listen to such language,” was Lady Brat- 
tle’s indignant retort. “ What do you mean by keep- 
ing me here ? What is your purpose ? Let me go and 
end this farce.” 


i66 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“ You came of your own free will ? ” 

“ It was all a mistake — if I had known you were in 
Egypt, I — I — nothing should have dragged me here.” 

“ Now I thought you came on purpose to see me. 
Come, Betsy, confess you came with a lurking fondness 
for your doting old husband. Ha, ha, ha! Is it not 
so, my dear? ” 

“ For you! I abhor you! I detest you! and wonder 
that I could ever have consorted with a being so vile ! ” 
she exclaimed with infinite scorn. 

“Ha, ha! Betsy, I like that! You look handsome 
now. And you have the true fire. I’m tired of these 
amiable, yielding young women, who are always the 
same. Yours is the true spirit that compels admiration. 
Ah! You are wonderfully well-preserved. Yes, yes, 
you will do,” he said musingly, gazing at her with long- 
ing eyes. “ In time you will come to like me again.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” cried the poor woman, his 
burning, covetous eyes filling her with shrinking 
detestation. 

“ I mean that you shall be queen of my harem.” 

“ Never ! Never ! Never ! ” frantically shrieked 
Lady Brattle, “ I’m divorced ! I’m no longer your 
wife.” 

“You are my wife. The English divorce is of no 
effect here. You are my Egyptian wife.” 

“ Oh, gracious Heavens ! This cannot be true ! You 
are trying to frighten me into submission.” 

“You will find it true. There is only one person 
can save you.” 

“ And that is my husband ? ” 

“ No. Your child — our child — though you have 
denied her to the world, denied her to me. And now 
you would make her future miserable by refusing her 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 167 

the love of a worthy young sailor, because you have a 
lordly suitor ready to purchase her.” 

She looked incredulously at him ; how could he 
know this? He saw the question in her look and 
answered : 

“ Oh, I know the lover — Lieutenant Dane, a young 
hero — all that one could desire in a son. Does our child 
love him ? ” he asked craftily. 

“ N-o-o,” she faltered. “ She does not know what 
love is.” 

“ My young friend tells me she does love him ; and 
that you insulted and repulsed him.” He waited for 
her reply, but with rebellious, imperious disdain she 
drew herself erect and refused to speak. 

“ Is it so ? ” he asked, his great black eyes flash- 
ing angrily. 

“ I will not discuss the matter with you. It does 
not concern you,” was the defiant rejoinder. 

“ It concerns the happiness of my child ; and, by 
the grave of Mahomet ! she shall marry him if she 
loves him.” 

“Never! If he is an associate of yours. I would 
rather see her dead.” 

“He is a azzociate of mine, and he zhall marry her. 
And what is more, you zhall consent.” This was said 
calmly but firmly, and with eyes half-closed yet flash- 
ing angrily. 

“Never! Never! Never!” 

“ Ha, ha, ha, ha ! Ah, yez, you will.” Then, with 
an abrupt change of manner, he clapped his hands 
three times, which brought Zeyneb and Bateekah. 

When the major-domo came and salaamed, Le 
Zaras said to Zeyneb with an effort at calmness : 

“ This lady is my wife. She will be queen of the 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


1 68 

harem. She is fractious just now. Take her to her 
chamber; treat her with the greatest respect, kind- 
ness and consideration ; but keep her there until she 
asks to see me.” There was no mistaking his deter- 
mined manner ; his former consort knew it of old. 

“ Oh, Heavens ! ” she screamed. “ Miss Shy ! ” 
Miss Shy ! Save me from this monster! ” 

But Nelly was at the other end of the garden, 
engrossed with her interview, and so did not hear. 
Lady Brattle made a dash for the steps which descended 
to the garden, but Bateekah quickly seized her by the 
arm. 

“ Now, Betsy,” said Le Zaras, “ do not be foolish. Go 
to your room peacefully — and, when you come to your 
senses, send for me.” 

“Never! Never! Never!” screamed the frantic 
woman, as Bateekah, assisted by Zeyneb, led her 
away. 

“ Send Abloo with that Christian dog to me,” said 
Le Zaras to Bateekah when he returned. 

A few minutes afterwards, Lord Lashburn was 
brought into the great man’s presence by the grinning 
Abloo. He had been confined in a dark, dank room at 
the bottom of the house all night, without a morsel 
either to eat or to drink. Lashburn, indeed, looked a 
pitiable object ; sickly, pale, and bareheaded, his scanty, 
mouse-coloured locks matted and unkempt, his mous- 
tache drooping, and great pallid rings about his eyes. 
He still wore the Pasha’s gown he had been disguised 
in the night before ; he drew it about him and shivered 
with cold and fright as he approached the Pasha, who 
burst into a roar of uncontrollable laughter when he 
beheld the ludicrous woe-begone countenance of the 
hapless Lothario. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


169 

“ Pardon me,” said Lashburn, deliberately adjusting 
his eyeglass and scowling at his captor; “you will 
find this an expensive joke. I’m a British subject.” 

“ Hum-m ! a lord, I believe?” 

“ Yes, Lord Lashburn, of the Embassy.” 

“ Oh ! zo ! zo ! ” with elevated eyebrows. “ I did 
not know I had ze pleasure to entertain such a dis- 
tinguish guest. You have breakfas’ ? ” 

Lord Lashburn sadly shook his head. 

“ Oh, you rascal ! ” cried the Pasha facetiously shak- 
ing his fist at Abloo. “ How dare you keep a British 
nobleman wizout his breakfas’. Did you order it ? ” 
he asked of Lashburn. 

“ Yes ; but the black devil only grinned at me.” 

“ Oh, I have forget — he is deaf and dumb. A tou- 
zand pardons, my lord ! He shall prepare you a break- 
fas’ at once. You are famished, eh ?” 

“Yes, and parched with thirst.” 

“ Bring ze wine, Abloo.” He made signs to the 
mute, who went out and presently returned with 
glasses and a bottle of port. Abloo poured out the 
wine, and placed a glass for each of them. While they 
were drinking it, Lashburn thought to himself : “ This 
is better treatment than I expected. My position has 
evidently impressed him.” 

“ Zat feels better, eh ? ” asked the wily host. 

“Yes, y-e-es, many thanks, many thanks!” 

“ Do you smoke ? ” 

“ Yes ; but — I’m hungry.” 

“ Enough. You shall have a smoke with me while 
he prepare your breakfas’. Pray be seated.” Lash- 
burn accepted a chair. With Abloo the Pasha then 
began a long discourse with his hands. Abloo smiled 
and disappeared. Lord Lashburn watched this panto- 


BIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


170 

mime with interest, for he thought it concerned his 
breakfast. 

“ You are very kind,” said Lashburn, “in view of — 
hem ” 

“ Ze affair last night — we will discuss that presently,” 
said Le Zaras, with a crafty smile. 

“And without — er — rancour, I hope?” 

At this juncture Abloo brought in two lighted 
narghiles, and placed one before each of them. The 
Pasha had been restlessly pacing the room ; but he 
now seated himself on the divan, and, taking the stem 
of the tube, began to smoke reflectively. Lashburn 
followed his example. Waving Abloo to be gone, the 
Pasha observed : 

“Very soothing, my lord, zis smoke, eh? ” 

“ Very pleasant, my dear sir,” was Lashburn’s reply, 
puffing away complacently. 

“ Now,” with a sudden change of manner, and look- 
ing keenly at his victim, “ tell me who projec’ zis 
plot to desecrate my harem?” 

“There was no — er — exactly plot,” said Lashburn, 
taken by surprise at the Pasha’s altered tone. 

“ Don’t attempt any swinish lies! You were caught 
in zat room with my wife. By Egyptian law any man 
found in ze harem may be killed without question. 
You know zat?” Lashburn’s mottled visage blanched 
perceptibly. 

“ Now, my dear sir, I ” 

“ Do not call me Sare. I am a Pasha ! ” ferociously. 

“ My dear Pasha,” faltered Lashburn, “ let us con- 
sider the matter calmly — I ” 

“To ze devil wiz your calm ! Who make ze plot ? 
I want to know zat ? ” 

“ My dear Pasha, let us consider this business — er — 


HIS EGYPTIAN- WIFE. 


171 

pacifically — I counsel diplomatic coolness. I do really ! 
Now ” 

“ Ze devil take your diplomacy. You have outrage 
me ! ” 

“If you will listen calmly — I — may be able to ex- 
plain what was seemingly, a — a — well, a liberty, but I 
assure you it was a harmless platonic visit.” Lash- 
burn puffed away at the stem of his narghile while he 
meditated on his defence with such provoking calm- 
ness that his listener could no longer restrain his pent- 
up fury. So sliding off the divan he stood threaten- 
ingly over the cringing lord, and in a stentorian voice, 
demanded : 

“ Who — was — wiz — you — in — zis — plot ? ” 

Lashburn shrunk into his chair, but the bullying 
didn’t hasten his methodical deliberation any more 
than a pin stuck in a turtle’s tail would accelerate its 
habitual movements. 

“ My dear Pasha,” he replied with a deprecating 
smile* “ I really deplore yourwant of judicial calmness, 
but there was no plot.” 

“ No plot. Well — well ! ” impatiently. But the 
diplomat puffed away complacently at his pipe. “ Well, 
well ! ” asked the Pasha again. “ Who was wiz you ? ” 

“ Oh, I beg your pardon, I didn’t say there was any 
one with me,” with a cunning leer. 

“ Then zare was no one wiz you, eh ? ” 

“ I didn’t say that either.” 

“Parbleu! What did you say?” cried the Pasha, 
with all a sailor’s impatience at circumlocution. 

“If you will only have patience — you bewilder me, 
really you do ” 

“ I have patience ! I wait — I wait ! ” said the Pasha, 
resignedly moving away and looking back at him as he 


172 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


paced the floor with an expression which seemed to 
say : “ This is the most contemptuous imbecile I ever 
had dealings with.” 

Meanwhile Lashburn was cudgelling his bewildered 
brain in search of a plausible lie that would not 
implicate Sir Richard and Dolby ; for he had come 
to the conclusion they had escaped. But how should 
he account for the key which had been found in 
his possession? All at once he hit upon an idea 
which he thought would serve. The Pasha came 
up and, rapping the table impatiently, roared, “ I wait ! 
I wait ! ” 

“Well, my dear sir — Pasha, it was all about a 
wager.” 

“ A wager? ” — dubiously. Well — “ I wait ! ’’ 

“ Well, I bet Sir Richard Brattle and Dolby a case 
of champagne I would get into a harem. You see — 
you see?” with an effort to be jocular. 

“ I listen ! ” irritably, and watching him suspiciously. 

“ Now, Karava Bey, he ” 

At the mention of this name, the Pasha looked as if 
he would explode. 

“ Ha ! I have it, at last ! He was with you ! ” cried 
his listener triumphantly. 

“ Pardon me ; I did not say so.” 

“ But / say zo. I have his gown and his turban, and 
his card in ze pocket of ze gown. Iz not zat proof?” 

This was a revelation the embryo diplomat had not 
foreseen ; it staggered him as much as anything short 
of dynamite could. 

“Well, go on wiz ze story of ze wager; you bet 
you could get into my harem.” 

“ Yes, yes, that’s it. All for a lark, you see. Ha, 
ha, ha! ” with a sickly attempt at a laugh. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


173 


“ But you did not wager you would get out again ? ” 
asked the Pasha, with crafty, half-closed eyes, in which 
there was a fiendish glee. 

‘•No, no. Oh, no,” assented Lashburn, with ques- 
tioning look. 

“ Zen you will win — for you will not get out again.” 

“ But, my dear sir, you do not mean to say you will 
dare ” 

“ Pah ! Piff ! Pooh ! Now confess that you admire 
my wife, Ayros ? Itiszo?” 

“ I do. I do — er — that is, her style is rather un- 
usual,” wondering what his captor was driving at. 

“And zis Karava Bey, he came with you ? ” 

“ I did not say so.” 

“To ze devil wiz your ‘ I — did — not — say — zo ! * I 
know. I have ze proof.” 

“ But I assure you — though the circumstances seem 
— er — equivocal, my admiration for your wife was 
purely platonic.” 

“ Piff,” cried the Pasha, his patience now utterly 
worn out, for after all this parleying he had learned very 
little from the sluggish culprit. So he clapped his 
hands and Bateekah appeared, then turning to Lash- 
burn he asked : 

“ Does ze smoke exhilarate you ? ” 

“ Yes, makes me awfully light-headed.” 

“ Ah ! zen it ees working well.” 

“Working well? What do you mean?” The 
unctuous smile on the Pasha’s face alarmed him. 

“ With zat pipe you are — slowly poisoning yourself. 
Ha ! ha ! ha ! ” the animate jelly shaking all over 
with enjoyment. 

Lashburn slowly dropped the mouth-piece and 
looked at him aghast. 


174 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“This is barbarous, sir! barbarous! You are a cold- 
blooded fanatic ! You dare not^you ” 

“ You will next have a delicious sleep, zen in eight 
hours you will wake, your stomach rent with pain, and 
your head as light as a balloon — and zen — you will die . 
Zat is ze way we dispose of lords who break into our 
harems and cuddle our wives.” 

“ An antidote, an antidote ! I will confess every- 
thing if you will only give me an antidote,” gasped 
Lashburn. 

“ It ees too late. Away with him, back to ze cellar — 
treat him gently — he is a lord — a British lord. Ha! 
ha ! ha ! ha ! ” 

As the protesting Lothario was led away, Le Zaras 
said to himself: “And that is the brainless thing 
Betsy would marry our child to. I’ll frighten the liver 
out of him before I let him go. Ha ! ha ! But, 
parhleu ! If I only had that Karava in my clutches, I 
would strangle him.” 

Nellie Shy came up the steps just in time to see 
Lashburn dragged off. 

“ Look here, Colonel,” she asked, “ what are you 
doing with him. What’s he been up to ? ” 

“ I cannot attend to you now, my fair American. I 
have an appointment. Make yourself at home until I 
return. Adieu ! ” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE , 


*75 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

LE ZARAS DENOUNCES KARAVA BEY. 

After enduring agonies of mind for some time, 
Sir Richard decided to send for Karava Bey. 

When his friend came he rapidly told him of the 
calamity at the Villa Karava, and of their inglorious 
retreat, but hesitated to mention his wife. 

“ And Lord Lashburn did not escape ? ” asked Karava, 
with a grave face. 

“ I’m afraid not.” 

“That is bad ! That is bad ! You know I warned 
you to keep in the gardens.” 

“ Yes, yes, and I did my best to keep them there, 
and together; but that susceptible idiot, Lashburn, 
became fascinated with Ayros and stole off into one of 
the side rooms — with the key of the gate in his pocket, 
too, and we had to scale the wall. Pah, the im- 
becile ! ” 

“ This is very serious. Did Zaras Pasha, when he 
called on you, mention Lashburn ?” 

“No, but he mentioned my wife.” 

“ Your wife ? What has he to do with her ? ” 

“ That is what I can’t understand ! ” 

Sir Richard could not find courage to tell him the 
truth, and what he feared. 

“ My opinion is,” he continued, “ the Pasha has by 
some means discovered I was there last night, and is 
holding my wife as a — a sort of hostage.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


176 

“ But how did Lady Brattle get there ? ” 

“ That is what confounds me too.” 

“ Don’t you think he was lying to you, to frighten 
you into a confession ? ” 

“ No, not at all. I’ve seen a message to Elsie, which 
proves that my wife is with him.” 

“ But did not Zaras hint at some explanation ? ” 

“ Yes, but with a malicious deviltry which I can’t 
explain — even to you, my friend.” 

Karava Bey reflected for several moments, and with 
a face that was far from pleasant to look at. 

“ Oh, Karava ! Karava ! Why did you ever allow 
me to make such an ass of myself ! ” moaned the Q. C. 

Karava shrugged his shoulders, and sarcastically 
said : 

“ For the same reason you took me shooting on the 
Scotch moors, with Scotch lairds, who ended the day 
by drinking whisky until they were mad, then danced 
on the table — and slept under it. It was an experi- 
ence — I return the compliment.” 

Sir Richard could not smile ; he was too sick at heart. 

“ Where is Monsieur Dolby ? ” asked Karava. 

“ I haven’t seen him since morning,” replied the 
Q. C. All at once it struck him as being rather odd 
that Dolby had not called again. 

“ He may have seen Lashburn,” said the Egyptian. 
“ Let us find him.” 

They went to the bureau of the hotel and made en- 
quiries. 

“ He left with his luggage this morning,” said the 
clerk; “he was suddenly summoned to the Psyche. 
Some one taken seriously ill, I understood him to say.” 

Sir Richard and Karava exchanged meaning glances, 
as they walked away from the bureau. When they 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


1 77 

got outside on the terrace Karava burst into a roar of 
laughter, and said : 

“ He is a prudent surgeon that Dolby, he knows his 
business.” 

Sir Richard smiled dolefully. 

“What is to be done?” he asked. “ Can’t you go 
and see the Pasha and learn what he knows, and what 
he means to do ? ” 

“ I do not like it. He is my bitter enemy — and I 
am his. He despises the English and intrigues with 
the French in all their political schemes. He has the 
ear of the Khedive just now — and might despatch 
Lashburn with impunity ; but I doubt if he would go 
so far as that. I do not like the mission, but I sup- 
pose I must undertake it — to save a scandal in the 
Embassy.” 

“You will enquire about Lady Brattle?” asked the 
advocate solicitously. 

“ Had you not better come and discuss that matter 
with him ? ” with a sarcastic, rayless smile. 

“ Not till I find out what he knows,’ and — ” Sir 
Richard was going to say, “ whether my wife went to 
him freely or not,” but he checked himself. 

“ My dear friend, I will do what I can for you,” said 
Karava, and he at once set forth on his mission. 

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when 
Karava was shown into the presence of Le Zaras. 
They salaamed to each other and passed the usual 
empty compliment of, “ Allah be with you,” then the 
Pasha abruptly and curtly asked : 

“ How can I serve you ? ” 

Karava Bey had nerves of steel, but he felt instinc- 
tively that the Pasha was bitterly hostile, and this 
would be a difficult interview to conduct diplomati- 

12 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


17S 

cally. He decided to come at once to the point and 
admit the truth ; therefore he said : 

“ Last night — well, under the influence of wine — there 
entered your gardens three Englishmen. One of 
them ” 

“ Pardon me,” broke in the Pasha, producing the 
card found in the gown Sir Richard had left behind 
him, “ this is your card ? ” 

“Yes, yes, certainly; one that I use at the legation 
in England” — wondering how Le Zaras had come by it. 

“ You admit it ?” enquired Le Zaras, blue-grey with 
suppressed fury. 

“ Of course.” 

“Well, what would you? I listen,” rejoined the 
Pasha grimly. 

“ One of them, an English lord, you have detained? ” 
looking questioningly at the other. 

“ I caught him in my house.” 

“ What is your purpose ? ” 

“ Oh,” with a sardonic smile, “ I have arranged to 
dispose of him — to my satisfaction.” 

“ But he is an English diplomat.” 

“ Then there will be no great loss.” 

“ You will involve the Khedive with England if any- 
thing happens to this man. I demand his release at 
once.” 

“You! You!” contemptuously. “What of the 
other ? There was another.” 

“Another? Oh, he means Sir Richard,” thought 
Karava. 

“ Yes, and you know him. That is his card. Ha! 
ha ! ” continued Le Zaras fiercely, thrusting Karava’s 
card before his eyes. 

“Mine! My card ! You must be jesting. You do 


HIS EGYPT/A JV WIFE. 


*79 

not suspect me?” exclaimed Karava in genuine sur- 
prise. 

“ Ha, ha, this is well acted! But you left it behind 
you in your gown ! ” Then, hissing between his 
teeth, “You were here last night, in my absence, and 
now you have the audacity to calmly face me and 
demand the release of your miserable accomplice. 
But I’ll make an example of both of you! I caught 
him. If I had caught you, your festering carcass would 
now have been floating in the bay. Away with you ! ” 

“ This is the raving of a madman/’ said Karava, 
with a great effort to be calm. “ That card is the most 
flimsy evidence on which to accuse me. I can prove, 
by my presence elsewhere, I was not here last night.” 
He now understood why the Q. C. was not suspected. 

“ Pah ! But your accomplice has confessed you were 
with him. Away ! ” 

“ I see it is idle to argue with you. But I will go to 
the Secretary of State — you will listen to him. This 
Englishman must be protected at all hazards.” 

“ He has outraged the law of Mahomet ; he must 
pay the penalty,” was Le Zaras’ rejoinder as he furiously 
paced the room. 

“ You will regret it, if he does. Now, mark my 
words ” 

“You threaten me!” roared Le Zaras, stopping be- 
fore him. “ You ! You contemptible renegade — who 
thrive by espionage, pretending to serve the Khedive 
— all the while accepting the bribes of the English.” 

Karava smiled as a dog snarls with dilated nostrils 
and flashing eyes. 

“ Leave my house before I crush you like a toad ! 
Show him the door, Bateekah,” thundered Le Zaras, 
calling his factotum. 


1 80 HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 

Karava had no alternative but to go ; so, returning 
his enemy’s look of hatred, he followed Bateekah into 
the hall. On the threshold of the doorway he turned 
and asked : 

“ Have you an American lady here?” 

Bateekah nodded. 

“ And an English lady with her ? ” 

The other hesitated, and then assented again. 

“ Came last night to visit the ladies? ” 

The discreet servitor shrugged his shoulders, and 
smiled deprecatingly. But Karava had learned an im- 
portant fact, and hastened away to acquaint Sir 
Richard with the result of his interview. 

“Your wife is undoubtedly there,” he said, “ but the 
American woman is with her. They probably went on 
his invitation to view his harem.” 

This was but little consolation to the Q. C., for it 
suddenly occurred to him that his wife might have 
witnessed his wild antics with Runa. 

How should he ever face her again if she had ! 
Then he bethought him of the exclamation he had 
heard. Yes, it was her voice, he was convinced of 
that, and his heart sank within him ; for with such 
an upbraiding conscience he could not now success- 
fully play the role of the injured husband. 

“ What is to be done now ? ” he asked of Karava. 

“ We must go to the British Consul, tell him the 
truth, and see what he can do. He is a man of the 
world and will be discreet ; he is an old friend of 
yours, too, I believe, is he not ? ” 

“Yes,” said the advocate; “but I shrink from 
acquainting him with ” 

“ Pooh ! There is no other course to pursue.” 

So to the Consul they went, and telling him all (save 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 181 

of Sir Richard’s wife’s former relations with Le Zaras), 
they had no difficulty in securing the Consul’s inter- 
vention. Then he went with them to see the Egyptian 
foreign secretary, but he was in Cairo, and would prob- 
ably not return until late that night, or next day, they 
were told. After this the baffled advocate went back 
to the hotel ; but the indomitable Karava sought to 
confound and thwart his enemy by other means. 


i 82 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

HAPPINESS, BUT NOT PERFECT HAPPINESS. 

As Sidney and Elsie drove in an open carriage out 
of the ancient city by the Rue de Rosetta, on their 
way to the Jardin Pastre, the handsome, well-matched 
couple attracted no little attention. Many a wretched 
fellah paused in his field-labours and watched them 
with a sigh as they dashed past ; and many a red-fezzed 
effendi and turbaned pasha gazed enviously at the ruddy 
young Englishman, and with covetous, blazing eyes 
at the brown-haired, brown-eyed, fresh-complexioned 
young girl at his side. Closely-veiled ladies of the harem, 
out for an airing, flashed by, and glanced with envy in 
their eyes at the elegant English girl’s privilege of pub- 
licly showing such radiant loveliness, — a privilege 
which the denizens of the harem never cease to covet. 

When they were quite away from the busy traffic, 
and were passing through an avenue of palms, Sidney 
could no longer resist taking the daintily-gloved hand, 
which lay in the girl’s lap, and, letting it drop half- 
hidden between them, continued to fondle and press it 
with all a lover’s ardour. 

Elsie responded with unfeigned gratification ex- 
pressed in her soft, lustrous eyes. 

“Just to think, dear,” he said, with a swelling, grate- 
ful heart, “ that a week ago to-day I was on the deck of 
the Psyche , crossing from Cyprus in the teeth of a 
south-east hurricane, the salt spray lashing my eyes 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


183 

and face and almost blinding me, the wind whistling 
and shrieking as if it would drag me into the sea. But, 
do you know, I scarcely minded it — I was filled so with 
the thought of you, dear, that over the seething, foam- 
ing billows, there always floated the vision of your 
sweet brown eyes welcoming me to Alexandria — and 
Sir Richard standing beside you. And now, dear” 
(with an ardent pressure of her hand), “ all is peace and 
calmness ; the sun shines ; there isn’t a rock, or a shoal, 
or a bank of fog, on our sea of love. We are engaged 
— we were so before, as much as two blending hearts 
ever could be — but now we have the full sanction of 
your father, there is nothing to prevent our marriage — 
When must it be, dear ? When must it be ? ” 

“ Why, Sidney, how impetuous you are ! ” cried the 
girl, and yet she rejoiced in it, and reciprocated every 
sensuous outburst. 

“ How can I help it ? I’ve been engaged to the 
sweetest girl in the world for nine months — with love, 
love, love, welling up within me, and no one to tell it 
to, not even to a photograph — nothing but the white 
rose which you sent me by Sir Richard.” 

“ Oh, Sidney ! have you kept that rose ? — I meant it 
only as a symbol of my constancy.” 

“Yes, darling. I’ve treasured it in a glass jar, which 
Dolby gave me for the purpose, together with some 
drug which preserves its odour. And every time I 
removed the stopper and inhaled the perfume, it re- 
minded me of — the sweet fragrance of your blessed 
mouth — of the kiss in the boat, which filled me with 
undying happiness.” 

“ Oh, Sidney ! Sidney ! I’m so glad I sent that rose 
— you might have forgotten me if I hadn’t.” 

“ No, no, dear, there was no danger of that.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


184 

As they drove along, there were frequent lapses in 
their conversation, in which the girl seemed to lose 
herself in serious meditation. 

“ I feel, Elsie, as if we were just married and were on 
our honeymoon/’ he said, with his old hilarity. “ If 
you would only call me ‘ dear,’ and steal a kiss now 
and then, the illusion would be complete — I believe 
the bride claims that privilege — does she not ? ” 

“ Oh, you stupid boy — I won’t listen to such non- 
sense.” 

“ Well, suppose / start with the kiss — the driver, I 
am sure, is dozing ” 

“ No, no, Sidney, don’t be silly,” she cried, pushing 
him and his approaching lips from her. “ What would 
people think if they saw us? ” 

“No? — now that we are engaged? — But if you 
leaned over and slily kissed me,” he urged, with merry, 
roguish eyes, “ they’d think it was perfectly proper, 
and that we were merely on our honeymoon. Let’s 
make believe we’re on our honeymoon Elsie, dear ; 
now, do ! ” 

“You’re getting frivolous, Sidney !” 

“ Call me ‘ dear,’ or I shall insist upon the kiss,” he 
said, with a mad threat in his voice. 

“ Well, ‘ dear,’ there ! ” was the response, with a ten- 
der pressure of his hand. “ Now let us be proper and 
decorous.” 

“ How can I be decorous when you squeeze my hand 
like that,” he rejoined, rapturously looking into her 
eyes. 

“ Then, I’ll take my hand away.” 

“ No, — no, no ! I can’t permit that,” and he impris- 
oned it again. 

By and by he began to note her moods of abstrac- 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 185 

tion, and he felt that she had something at heart which 
kept her from joining and responding to his breezy 
happiness. So he said in a jocular tone, “ A devoted 
wife will keep no secret from her husband — during the 
honeymoon, at least — she may after.” 

Elsie hesitated to reply, for she was debating in her 
mind whether or not she ought to tell Sidney what she 
feared about her mother having gone back to her father 
in a fit of pique. 

Sidney ought to know everything, she reasoned ; 
but if, by chance, it was not as she dreaded, and her 
mother was innocent of any wrong intention, then it 
would be foolish to acquaint Sidney with the matter. 
Thus she found it impossible to be as perfectly happy 
as her lover was, with the burden of these thoughts 
upon her. 

“ I have no secret, Sidney, only some thoughts,” 
she answered. 

“ Oh,” he said, “ can’t I share your thoughts ? ” 

“ Not at present, dear.” 

“ Oh, that’s nice ! ’ Call me * dear ’ and I don’t care 
what your thoughts may be — dear in the same boyish 
hilarity. 

She smiled, and tried to respond to his joyous mood, 
but her troubled thoughts mastered her. 

They had been driving an hour, when Elsie surprised 
her lover by abruptly saying : “ Sidney, let us return. 

I want to see Uncle Dick. I must see him at once.” 

“ Why, darling? He’s all right.” 

“ Yes, but I want to learn what papa had to say to 
him.” 

“ What could he have to say — but to ask his influ- 
ence with Lady Brattle in our behalf.” 

“ I fear it was more than that. Oh, Sidney ! I 


i86 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


must tell you. Uncle Dick and auntie quarrelled 
bitterly the night before last — because Uncle Dick 
defended you — and — and condemned mamma for 
encouraging Lord Lashburn. And mamma spent the 
night in my room — and last night she did not return 
home.” 

“ Where was she ? I thought she went out with 
Miss Shy somewhere.” 

“ Yes, she did — but — oh, Sidney, I must see Uncle 
Dick ! I know he must be distressed about mamma — 
and I want to know — that is, to see, what he says. I 
can’t bear to think of his being unhappy — he has been, 
oh, so good to me ; always so devoted.” 

The sun was dipping into the Mediterranean when 
they reached their hotel. Elsie went at once to Sir 
Richard’s room, and saw by his pale features and 
dejected manner that he was suffering mentally. 

“ Has auntie not returned ? ” she asked, uncon- 
sciously using the familiar term. 

“Your mother has not returned,” he said, with a 
tremulous voice. “ Oh, my dear, do not continue to 
deceive me. God knows it’s bad enough to learn that 
your mother has done so.” 

“ I did not mean to deceive you, Uncle Dick, it was 
custom, not intention,” cried the girl, hurt that he 
should so reproach her. 

“Why did you not tell me of your father, then?” 

“ He has been to see you ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“And what did he say of mamma?” 

“ That she was with him.” 

“And would not return?” 

“ He implied as much — and that she had gone to him 
of her own free will.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


187 

“ I don’t believe that ! No, no ! I can’t, though he 
is my father. I know how she received him at Oxley 
House.” 

“ Was he there, too? ” cried Sir Richard, in a fit of 
jealousy. “ Oh, my God ! how I have been de- 
ceived ! ” 

“ You have not been deceived. He came to see me. 
Mamma insolently ordered him from the house — and 
saw him only for a moment. And that is why I do 
not believe that she has gone back to him now.” 

“ But she has remained away all night.” 

“ So has Miss Shy.” 

“ There is little consolation in that. If your 
mother deliberately went to him — even in a fit of 
anger ” 

“ But she didn’t. She didn’t. I will not believe it 
until she tells me so herself. She was foolish and cruel, 
and bitter with you, Uncle Dick; but I cannot and 
will not believe that she meant to do this. Nor will I 
go to rest until I learn the truth.” 


i88 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


CHAPTER XX. 

NELLY SHY PROVES A STAUNCH FRIEND TO LADY 
BRATTLE. 

Nelly had been so engrossed in the business of 
interviewing Runa and Lisba, and so fascinated with 
the details of harem life which Runa, that babbling 
child of nature, had freely given her, that she had 
quite forgotten Lady Brattle, until she saw Lashburn 
being led away. Going up to the chamber she found 
her friend prone upon the bed, sobbing hysterically 
and bemoaning her fate. 

“What’s the matter, dear? What did he say?” 
asked Nelly, compassionately. 

“ He said enough,” sobbed her friend, “ to show me 
his diabolical purpose — to keep me as one of his lust- 
ful toys — another slave added to his horrid list.” 

“ Oh, he can’t do that ! You were divorced.” 

“ But he will — he declares the English courts have no 
jurisdiction here — and, I fear he is right! Oh, gra- 
cious Heaven ! Why did I ever come to this benighted 
country ! ” 

“ Oh, that’s all rubbish — don’t you be skeared ! Just 
let me talk to him when he returns.” 

“ But it looks as if I had sought him — and he de- 
clares I did.” 

“Ye-es, that looks bad!” said Nelly, reflectively. 
“ And it will look more suspicious to Sir Richard, I’m 
afraid, since you do not return.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


189 

“ Yes, that is what mortifies me. I quarrelled with 
him, and he’ll naturally think that I came here in a 
spirit of — of revenge.” 

“ He will. He will. But what did old Solomon 
say? Couldn’t you wheedle him over, somehow?” 

“ He proposed an impossible condition.” 

“ What was that ? ” 

“ That I should consent to Elsie’s marriage with 
young Dane.” 

“Oh, oh!” exclaimed Nelly. “Wal, I’m with him 
thar. But how did he know they were attached to 
each other? ” 

“ He says Dane is a friend of his, and he’s taken 
upon himself to champion his cause.” 

“ Oh, I see.” Nellie hesitated an instant, and then 
said boldly : “ And so do I ; for he’s one of the nicest 

fellows, and one of the purest-minded I ever met. I 
don’t see how the girl can help loving him.” 

“ You, Miss Shy ! You ” 

“ Now, don’t stop me — hear me out. I knew of 
their attachment before I left Oxley House, and have 
seen what was going on here. Though Dane has never 
spoken to me on the subject, I saw that the young fel- 
low had been rejected — and I knew Lashburn was 
the rival, and why ; and I was real sorry for Dane, as 
well as for Elsie, because she loves him ” 

“ No, no, you are mistaken ” 

“ Oh, yes, she does. She cares nothing for Lord 
Lashburn — why would you have her? He was one of 
the party with your husband here last night, and was 
caught — the Pasha has him a prisoner.” 

“ Goodness gracious ! And Sir Richard too ? ” 

“ No. He and the other scalawag escaped. I 
learned that from Runa; but Lashburn was caught 


190 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


alone with one of the wives. So you see what an ac- 
complished rake Lashburn is, and what a genuine peer 
he’ll become, with a little more practice ; and what a 
desirable husband he’ll make for a fresh, innocent, 
rosebud of a girl, and how happy they’ll be, if she can 
only bring herself to regard the marriage-tie with the 
easy indifference he does.” 

“ God forbid ! ” cried her ladyship. “ But I don’t 
think he is so vile as this episode would imply. Men 
are men, and we must make allowance.” 

“ Will you make allowance for Sir Richard ? ” 

“Yes. And I’ll forgive him everything, if he will 
only rescue me from this mountain of lust.” 

“ There’ll be some difficulty about that, especially if 
the Pasha finds out that your husband was one of the 
party last night.” 

The persecuted woman admitted this, and, wringing 
her hands in helpless distress, she fell to lamenting, as 
before. 

“ Now, take my advice,” said Nelly, “ and do as the 
Pasha wants you — consent to Sidney’s proposals.” 

“ Never ! She might as well marry a profligate peer 
as a profligate sailor. But she shall marry neither.” 

“ Wal, how are you going to get out of here if you 
persist in this course ? 

“ I don’t know ! I don’t know ! ” was the hysterical 
answer. 

“ I think you’d better agree, if only to outwit the 
jolly old monster.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ Why, don’t you see, you can withdraw your con- 
sent after your release — if you want to — and thus 
match perfidy with perfidy.” 

Lady Brattle, after some hesitation, assented to this, 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


191 

and later in the day, when the Pasha returned from his 
consultation with Sir Richard, the American sought 
him, and said : 

“ See here, Colonel, I’ve got Lady Brattle to consent 
to Elsie’s marriage with young Dane.” 

“ Ah, zhe has come to her senses, then ; it is 
wise.” 

“ Now I’m immensely obliged to you for your 
courtesy, and hospitality, and, if quite agreeable, we’ll 
take our departure.” 

“ Pier ladyship must first give me her promise in 
writing,” replied Zaras. “ A note to Elsie, saying zhe 
withdraws all opposition to her marriage with Lieuten- 
ant Dane,” said the Pasha, with a polite smile. 

“Oh,” exclaimed Nelly, taken by surprise. “You 
insist upon that ? ” 

“ I do, my fair American, for zhe might forget her 
promise, eh ? ” regarding her with half-closed eyes. 

“ I reckon, you’re about right, Colonel, she might.” 

“ I have seen my daughter, and her lover zis after- 
noon, and have promise zem her conzent,” he ex- 
claimed. 

“ Oh, you have ! Wal, that’s real nice, and I’m with 
you on that.” 

She gave him an encouraging flash of her dark eyes, 
and continued : 

“You can bet your old socks I’ll get that note.” 

Nelly went up to the chamber, and told her friend 
what her quondam spouse insisted upon, but carefully 
avoided mentioning that he had seen his daughter. 

Lady Brattle firmly refused to give the note. “ It 
would be madness, I could never revoke it,” she said. 

“ Oh, very well, then, I must throw up the case,” 
replied Nelly, moving towards the chamber-door. “ I 


192 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


must leave you to fight it out with the amiable old 
walrus.” 

“ No, no, no ! Miss Shy, for Heaven’s sake, do not 
leave me ! Do not leave me to the mercy of this 
sensual octopus.” 

Nelly had really no intention of doing so, but she 
saw her ladyship was afraid to trust the girl’s devotion 
for Sidney. 

“ Wal, you just think it over for half an hour, and 
then I’ll be back. But, really, you know, it’s the only 
way out. I’m going to find out what’s become of Lash- 
burn.” And with this idea she sought the Pasha 
again. 

“ Lady Brattle kicks at giving the note, but you let 
her fret a while, and she’ll cave in.” 

“ I zink zhe will,” said Le Zaras, “ before I do.” 

“ Now, see here,” cried Nelly, in a business-like way, 
“ what have you done with my reckless admirer ? ” 

“ Your admirer ? ” 

“ Yes, Lashburn.” 

“ Oh, he ees your admirer ? ” 

“ Wal, yes ; among a host of others, he claims to have 
the greatest admiration for me. I fancy, somehow, he 
followed me here last night.” 

“ Ha, you zink zo ? ” Le Zaras closed his heavy 
dark lashes for an instant, and then abruptly opened 
his great eyes, looking into hers as if he would drag 
from them any deception she might be attempting. 
Nelly, however, met his searching gaze with cool indif- 
ference. 

But he was caught with Ayros,” he said. 

“ I know that,” replied Nelly, “ he mistook her for 
me. Lady Brattle and I were watching them from that 
balcony — Ayros ran in there,” pointing to the ante- 


HIS EGYPTIAN- WIFE. 


*93 

room, “ and we started to come down and surprise 
him, when you came in.” 

This quite agreed with what Lisba and Runa had 
told him (as Nelly intended it should), so the jealous 
old reprobate was inclined to accept it as the truth. 

“ So you zink zare was no familiarity — no intrigue ? ” 
he asked. 

“ No, of course not ; for he’s as slow as a mud- 
turtle.” 

“ He ees, he ees ! ” replied the Pasha, remembering his 
own protracted interview with the pondering diplomat. 

“ Why, it would take him a week to get his arm 
round her waist, and another to make up his mind to 
kiss her,” observed Nelly. 

“ And you want to zee him ? ” asked the Pasha, glanc- 
ing at his watch. “ He will be please to zee you by 
zis time.” 

“ Where is he ? ” 

“ In a nice cool room below ! ” added the Pasha, with 
a malicious chuckle. 

“ What have you done to him ? ” 

“ You shall zee.” 

He summoned Bateekah, and Nelly descended with 
that functionary to the cellar. The major-domo lit a 
lantern, unlocked a door, and led the way into a dark, 
musty vault, meagrely furnished with two chairs, a 
table, and a couch, from which there reached the 
American’s ears the most agonized groans, grunts and 
lamentations. 

Bateekah held up the lantern, revealing to Nelly the 
pale and haggard visage of Lashburn writhing on the 
couch, evidently in great pain. 

“ Good gracious ! What ails you ? ” she exclaimed, 
approaching him. 

*3 


194 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


“ An antidote ! An antidote ! ” deliriously cried the 
miserable Lothario, grasping his stomach. 

"What for?” 

“ I’m poisoned ! I’m poisoned ! ” 

“What with? Quick, quick! What with?” 

“ Smoke,” he ejaculated, gazing about him wildly. 

“ Smoke ! How can that be ? Oh, he’s delirious ! 
What’s he been drinking? ” she asked, turning to 
Bateekah. 

That functionary only smiled grimly. 

“ Look here,” cried Nelly, shaking Lashburn by the 
shoulder. “ Don’t you know me ? ” 

He gazed at her with a bewildered, far-away look, 
and a sickly smile, then answered, “Yes, yes; but 
what are you doing here ? Has the old devil got you, 
too ? ” 

“ Now, brace up ! ” she cried, “ you’ve been dream- 
ing — or” (to herself) “ drinking.” 

“Yes, I have, for hours — and have only just woke 
up with the most hellish pains in my stomach. Ugh! 
Ugh ! Get me an antidote, for God’s sake ! ” 

“ What have you been drinking ? ” 

“ I haven’t been drinking — only smoking. Poisoned 
with it.” 

“ Are you sure it was poison ? ” 

“ Sure, sure ! Can’t I feel its insidious venom franti- 
cally racing through my — my anatomy! Ugh ! Oh, 
Heavens ! that I should die like this ! ” 

“See here,” said Nelly to Bateekah, “has he been 
smoking — or is this the ravages of delirium after a jam- 
boree with the boss, who, I reckon, could drink him 
blind in half an hour, and still walk a chalk.” 

Bateekah laughed and replied : “ It ees smoke. He 
smoke with the Pasha.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*95 


“ Oh, I see, but was it poisoned ? ” 

“ Abloo prepare the pipes," said Bateekah. 

“Yes, the black devil, and he poisoned mine,’ broke 
in Lashburn. “ For the Lord’s sake, get an antidote, or 
I shall be dead in ten minutes," he added, writhing 
about on the couch in evident agony. 

“ Give me that lantern," cried Nelly, snatching it 
from the grinning Arab, and, before he was aware of 
her purpose she had vanished along the dismal passage 
and up into the Pasha’s presence. 

“ I want some mustard and water ? " she exclaimed 
breathlessly. 

“ What for ? " 

“ Lashburn — he’s dying." 

“ Ha ! ha ! peacefully, I hope," fiendishly roared 
Le Zaras. 

“ Oh, how can you — how can you, torture the poor man 
like that ? Quick ! Where can I get some mustard ? ’’ 

“ Let ze imbecile die as befits a desecrater of ze 
harem." 

“ No, no ! Now, I implore you — he is innocent of 
what you think — you know he is — you know he is ! ’’ 

“ You would save him — for what? — to persecute my 
daughter again? ’’ 

“ No. I’ll take precious good care he don’t do 
that." All her womanly compassion now appealing in 
her voice and eyes. 

“You are a sweet, tender-hearted woman," mur- 
mured the Pasha. He hesitated a moment, regarding 
her with an amused smile, and then said : “ You zhall 
have your way. Come with me." 

He led her to one of his menials and ordered her to 
supply what the American required. 

t‘ When ze lord has recover bring him to me," said 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


196 

the Pasha, as Nelly hastened below with the emetic. 
“ And tell Bateekah I want him.” 

Lashburn was still groaning and lamenting when 
Nelly entered his dismal chamber. 

“ Here, swallow this,” she said, offering him a glass 
of warm mustard and water. 

“ What is it ? ” he asked, sitting up half dazed. 

“ Never mind — it’s the only antidote I can get here.” 

“ Are you sure it’s not been tampered with — to make 
an end of me ? ” 

“ Don’t be a fool ! I prepared it myself — drink it 
quick ! ” 

Lashburn eagerly swallowed the contents of the glass 
and fell back on his couch. Bateekah had gone up to 
his master and the bullet-headed Abloo had silently 
glided into the vault. Nelly was eagerly explaining to 
Lashburn that he must confirm her story that he had 
followed her there, when she turned and discovered 
Abloo beside her. 

“Hallo!” she cried, “where did you come from? 
This is your work, you satanic superfluity ! ” 

Abloo grinned and pointed with fiendish glee at his 
victim. 

“ Miss Shy,” feebly observed Lashburn, “ I’m aw- 
fully obliged to you — but I’m afraid you have come 
too late — I am dying — but I thank you with my last 
breath. Ugh! Ugh! Oh, I’m so — so — sick; I really 
think you — ugh ! — you’d better leave me — ugh ! — to 
my fate.” 

Nelly thought she understood the symptoms and 
prudently left the chamber. 

“Now, have you written that note?” asked the 
American, when she went up to Lady Brattle, 

“ No !” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


*97 


“ And you don’t intend to ? ” 

“ No ; let him do his worst.” 

“ Then, good-bye. I’m off. I’ve done all I can for 
you — I’m getting sick of this business. That dandy 
ex-husband of yours has poisoned Lord Lashburn, and 
I reckon there ain’t much doubt of how he’ll use you.” 

“ Poisoned Lord Lashburn ! Oh, Heavens ! ” cried 
her ladyship in a panic of fear. “ You — you don’t mean 
it?” 

“ I’ve seen the poor fellow. Good-bye ! Sorry to 
leave you, but you seem to have a sneaking liking for 
the old Pasha after all.” 

“ Oh, Miss Shy ! How can you ! How can you say 
such wicked things? ” 

“ How can you be so foolishly obstinate ?” 

“ I’ll give him the note,” burst out her ladyship, in a 
fit of despair. 

She sat down and penned it at once; and when it 
was done Nelly sent word to the Pasha, and presently 
they descended to the reception-room, prepared to 
leave. 

“ There is the note,” said Nelly, handing it to Le 
Zaras, “just run your eye over it, and see if it will 
do?” 

Le Zaras slowly read the note, and then observed : 

“Yes, it will do. Thank you, my dear,” to his 
former wife. 

“ Now I suppose we may go ? ” said Nelly. 

“ Yozi may go, my fair American, but my wife must 
remain with me.” 

“ What ! ” exclaimed Nelly, “ you mean to keep her ? ” 

“I do. Ha, ha! Are you surprise I should wish 
to keep such a ripe and superb woman?” his eyes 
covetously resting on Lady Brattle. 


198 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Oh, Heavens ! ” she gasped in utter despair. 

“ Now, see here, Colonel,” cried Nelly, “ this joke’s 
gone far enough. You’ve no claim on her, and can’t 
hold her ” 

“ Ah, zare you are wrong, my fair American. I have 
ze best of claim. She is still my wife.” 

“ But she was divorced.” 

“ Ha, ha, yes, yes,” he laughed, “ but ze divorce was 
not legal. I have, since I saw you zis morning, obtain 
ze opinion of eminent counsel. He tell me, Betsy,” 
smiling at his former wife, “ zat your divorce was not 
legal because ze English courts cannot divorce ze wife 
of a citizen of France.” 

“ Pooh ! That’s all rubbish ! ” cried Nelly. “ Who 
was the counsel ? ” 

“ Sir Richard Brattle, ze lady’s illegal husband,” he 
replied. 

•‘You have seen him?” exclaimed Lady Brattle, 
grasping Nelly’s arm for support. 

“We had a pleasant and agreeable chat.” 

“And he told you that? ” asked Nelly. 

“ Yes.” 

“ And he knew you had her in your power? ” 

“ No, but he soon will. You shall tell him when 
you return, zat zhe is now the queen of my harem.” 

“ Oh, gracious Heaven ! ” gasped Lady Brattle, “ is 
there no help for me? Is there no escape from this 
monster.” 

“Now don’t you get rattled,” said Nelly sooth- 
ingly, while supporting her friend. Then, turning 
to the Pasha, she asked, with angry, flashing eyes, 
“You are determined to keep this woman against her 
will ? ” 

“ Yes ; ” he smiled triumphantly. 


HIS EG YPTIAN WIFE. 


199 


“ Then you will have to keep me, too ; for I shan’t 
leave her to the mercy of your lascivious passions.” 

“Oh, I’ll make you one of my odalisques, too, shall 
I ?” and he laughed. 

“You’ll find me the toughest odalisque you ever 
wrestled with. Now, you hear me, Colonel! If you 
detain me you’ll be the sickest Pasha that ever wore a 
turban. I’m an American citizen — I’m ” 

“ But I do not detain you, you can go,” he broke in. 

“ Not much, I don’t go ! I’m not going to have you 
lilly-twiddling round her, until I’m sure you’ve got a 
perfect right to — and don’t you forget it ! ” 

The American’s dark eyes blazed with unmistakable 
fury, and Le Zaras began to think he had caught a 
tartar. 

The more he had gazed on the still handsome 
features and majestic figure of his former spouse, the 
more his animal nature was roused, and he desired to 
repossess her. At first his object in detaining Lady 
Brattle had been merely to compel her to accept Sid- 
ney, to punish her unreasonable insolence to him at 
Oxley House, and to torture Sir Richard with unfounded 
jealousy. But now that he had learned from the Q. C. 
there was a flaw in her divorce, he determined to keep 
her as his wife at all hazards. But how should he get 
rid of the American ? That indeed puzzled him. 

“You may stay, my fair American,” he said to 
Nelly, “but I zink by ze morning you will come to 
your senses. You keep her company till you do.” 
With this he left them, and they went back to the 
chamber, but not without a long and angry protest 
from the indomitable American. 


200 


HIS EGYPT! A AT WIFE. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

KARAVA BEY OBTAINS THE RELEASE OF LASHBURN. 

Karava Bey had not been idle. By a judicious use 
of the telegraph he learned that the Secretary of the 
Legation would return at seven o’clock. The British 
Consul met the Secretary on his arrival at the station, 
and within half an hour he obtained a document ordering 
the release of Lord Lashburn and Lady Brattle — “ pend- 
ing investigation of the charges against them ” 

After calling at the hotel and acquainting Sir Richard 
with his success, he drove to the Villa Karava, and 
again sought an interview with his implacable enemy. 

“ Now, what do you come for? ” demanded Le Zaras, 
when Karava was shown in. 

“ This order from the Secretary of State will inform 
you,” answered Karava, presenting the document 
with a triumphant smile. 

The Pasha read it through slowly. “ Hum-m ! ” 
he grunted, when he had mastered its contents. “ The 
imbecile lord you can have — for I’ve done with him. 
But ” 

“You don’t mean you have murdered him! ” asked 
Karava in alarm. 

“You shall judge,” replied the other grimly. 
“ Bateekah, bring his lordship here.” The eunuch 
left them to obey the command. 

“ And where is Lady Brattle ? ” asked Karava, “ that 
document calls for her release also.” 

“ She is my wife, and must remain here.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


201 


“ Your wife ! ” exclaimed Karava. 

“ Yes, my wife. And therefore I ignore this order 
in relation to her.” 

Karava thought the old reprobate had taken leave 
of his senses. He stood gazing at him in speechless 
astonishment. 

“ Do you know the danger you are running in this 
matter?” 

“ Bah ! There is no law in Egypt to compel a man to 
give up his wife.” 

“ And you dare affront the Secretary by ignoring his 
command ? ” 

“ I do. He does not know she is my wife — you can 
go back and tell him so, for he seems to be ignorant of 
the fact.” 

“ This is some hallucination ! She is the wife of my 
friend, Sir Richard Brattle.” 

“Go and ask your friend Sir Richard if she is. He 
will tell you he has already given me his legal opinion 
that she is not. Ha, ha, ha ! That surprises you ? ” 

Karava gazed at him as one patiently regards a 
dangerous lunatic, saying as little as possible, lest he 
should provoke a more ferocious hallucination. He 
was now quite sure Le Zaras was mad. 

“ Here is your illustrious accomplice,” fiendishly cried 
the Pasha, as Lashburn was ushered into the room, 
looking as sallow, pallid, limp and lifeless as a cockney 
tourist after a two hours’ tossing in the Straits of 
Dover.” 

“ What has happened, my lord ? ” asked Karava, with 
grave concern. 

“ Poisoned ! ” gasped Lashburn, “ if it had not been 
for Miss Shy’s timely succour I should have now been 
a dead man.” 


202 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“You would,” said the Pasha, with an unctuous 
chuckle. But he knew better, for the noxious drug 
which Abloo had put in the bowl of the pipe was about 
as harmless as senna, though quite as active. 

“ Will you join me in another pipe before you go? ” 
asked his tormentor mockingly. 

“ No, sir, no ! I’ve had quite enough of your bar- 
barity. Come, Karava, let us get away from this 
madman.” 

Karava required no urging ; and as Bateekah led 
them to the door, Le Zaras burst into a roar of laughter 
at the hasty departure of the timorous Lothario. 

Under cover of the darkness Lashburn reached his 
apartments, and at once sent for a doctor. 

Then Karava went and informed Sir Richard that 
Lady Brattle was in the possession of a dangerous 
lunatic, who was under the hallucination that she was 
his wife. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


203 


CHAPTER XXII. 

ELSIE CALLS ON HER FATHER. 

“ I CAN do no more for you until morning,” said 
Karava, when he had finished telling Sir Richard of 
his interview with the Pasha. “ Then I will call on the 
Secretary and tell him we have a madman to deal with.” 

The Q. C. even now would not tell his friend there 
was a diabolical method in this seeming madness. He 
groaned inwardly and helplessly ; every now and then 
a fierce desire rose up in him to go and boldly demand 
the release of his wife, and then it died out again, as he 
bethought how he had put himself out of court by his 
folly of the night before. Then he groaned again in 
impotent rage, and restlessly paced the room. 

“ I am very sorry for you, my friend,” said Karava, 
in genuine sympathy. “ I know how you must feel 
while her ladyship is open to insult from this irrespon- 
sible lunatic. Good-night, I will see you early in the 
morning.” 

And so he left the great advocate to bear his troubles 
as best he could. Sir Richard sought Elsie and told 
her — as he had promised to do — the result of Karava’s 
visit to her father, and how he persisted in retaining 
her mother as his wife. 

“ And won’t you go and demand her ? ” cried the 
girl. 

“No, my dear, I can’t! I can’t! For reasons 


204 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIPE. 


which — which are impossible to explain to you. 
And, besides, I am in doubt whether she sought him. 
If she did, she must remain there ; she can never more 
be wife of mine.” 

“ But I'm not in doubt, and I will not go to rest 
until I have seen her. Whatever reasons you may 
have — I — I — don’t know ; but they are always so good 
and so generous, I will not question them now.” 

Then with a resolution which astonished him, she 
said, as she began to put on her things : “ Tell Sidney 
to get a carriage at once. I am going to see my 
father,” her soft brown eyes glowing with determina- 
tion. “ I cannot rest until I know the truth — which 
I do know — but which I believe is perverted and 
made to appear horrible.” 

Sidney procured a closed carriage, and they drove 
away. During the journey the girl scarcely spoke except 
to explain her mission, she was so full of her purpose. 

It was after nine o’clock, and Le Zaras was in the 
harem with Runa and Lisba, when he was surprised by 
his major-domo presenting him with Elsie’s card, and 
saying : “ The young lady insists upon seeing you at 
once ; she is waiting at the door.” 

“ Show her into the reception-room,” said the Pasha, 
with a troubled face, and preparing to follow him 
downstairs. 

“ Who is she ? ” asked Runa, mischievously. 

He hesitated, and then said bluntly and somewhat 
impatiently : 

“ She is my daughter.” 

A ripple of incredulous laughter escaped from Lisba, 
which jarred on even his callous conscience. 

“ She is, indeed,” he said sternly, “ my only child, 
by the lady who came here last night.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


205 

“ Oh, then, we must see her by all means,” they 
cried in unison. “ She must be a beauty.” 

“ No,” he thundered, “you cannot see her, or speak 
to her!” and he left them with a look which forbade 
them to follow. 

“ Why have you come here, mon enfant ? ” he asked, 
as Elsie came to greet him in the reception-room. 

“ Oh, Papa ! Papa ! Can you ask ? ” half-sobbed 
the girl. Then with a glance at Bateekah she said in a 
low tone. “ Please send this person away ; I wish to 
speak with you alone.” 

Bateekah vanished at a sign from his master. 

“ Now, mon enfant ,” said her father, placing a chair 
for her, and seating himself, “ have you come here 
alone? ” 

“No. Sidney is waiting for me in the carriage.” 

“ Why did he not come in with you ? ” 

“ Because I wished to — to talk with you quite 
alone.” 

“ On what subject, my dear? ” the Pasha asked, with 
an effort to conceal his uneasiness, for the girl’s soft, 
brown innocent eyes contained a reproach which un- 
nerved him. 

“ My mother,” she answered softly. 

“ And what of her ? ” looking out at the moonlit bay. 

“ She is here with you ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And came of her own freewill ? ” 

“Yes,” still avoiding her appealing tearful eyes. 

“ And is she remaining of her own free will ? ” 

He hesitated, and then nodded assent. 

“ Papa ! ” said the girl appealingly, in a voice that 
became more and more like a wail of agony, “ are 
you telling me the truth? ” 


206 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


He made no reply, but continued to gaze out into 
the radiant night. 

“ Oh, papa! If you are telling me the truth, what 
must I think of my mother — as — as a good woman 
who in a fit of anger leaves one man — whom God 
knows is a good man — and — and goes back to 
another? Ah, but I cannot believe it! You are 
deceiving me ! Ah, say you are deceiving me ! ” 
Tears were now glistening in her eyes. 

Le Zaras struggled with his emotion for a moment, 
and then said : “ I am deceiving you, mon enfant 

“ Ah, I knew it ! I knew it ! ” 

“ But I am justified; zhe has never ceased to be my 
wife ; therefore I may detain her.” 

“ But not against her will. Oh, you would not, you 
would not ! ” 

“ I would, because zhe ees the only woman in the 
world that — that masters and subdues me, that com- 
pels my love and respect. It is painful, mon enfant , 
for me to — to make zis confession to you — but I would 
gladly give up my present selfish life to win back her 
affection.” 

“ Oh, papa ! That can never be ! Never ! Put the 
thought from you. I know what a happy, contented 
life she has led with Uncle Dick. I know how she 
loves him — how he adores her — though they quarrelled 
— but it was for me he quarrelled with her. Oh, papa ! 
if you knew how kind and tender and noble Uncle 
Dick has been to me, you would not wrong him 
even by a thought. He has championed my love for 
Sidney — my father in your place — he loves me almost 
as much as you do. And you do love me ? ” 

The Pasha got up and slowly paced the room, his 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


207 

passion battling with his holy, paternal reverence for 
his child. 

Of all things in the world he valued her respect the 
most. She saw he wavered and continued : “If you 
detain mamma, it is just the same as if I had been 
forced to — to marry Lord Lashburn, and you know I 
should have lived a life of — of — oh, I can’t say what 
with him ! It is horrible ! Would you have liked to 
see me the — the slave of a man I abhor? ” 

She rose and grasped his arm, and, looking up into 
his face, pleaded : “ Oh, I implore you to think of my 

loyalty to you, and how you will destroy it and my 
happiness by destroying that of my mother. Think 
what will be said — think how it will be whispered 
about in society — how I shall be pointed at and they 
will say, ‘ That girl’s mother is ’ ” 

Le Zaras clasped the girl’s tear-stained, upturned 
face tenderly in his hands, and kissed it reverently 
before she could complete the sentence. 

“You need say no more, ma cherie ,” he answered, 
with a husky, broken voice. “Your mother zhall 
return with you. I only impose one condition — that 
you must marry young Dane — take this letter, do not 
open it unless your mother refuses her consent. Marry 
him at the earliest moment — there is no telling what 
may happen. I wish you to be happy.” 

He summoned Bateekah and instructed him to tell 
the American lady and her friend that they were at 
liberty to go, but not to mention the presence of 
Elsie. 

“ I would rather, ma chere , your mother did not know 
of your visit here,” he said, as Bateekah left the room. 
“ They can return in your carriage, and I will zend you 
and Sidney to the hotel in mine.” 


208 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


Elsie understood the object of this, and, after an 
affectionate good-bye, she drove back to the hotel 
without seeing her mother. 

“ Wal,” said Nelly, as she and Lady Brattle drove up 
to the Palace Hotel half an hour later, “ this beats all ! 
I can’t understand it — unless the old Mormon got 
skeared at the prospective swoop of the American 
eagle. He didn’t even give us a chance to thank him 
for his genial, not to say fervent, hospitality. I asked 
Bateekah where he was, but he looked at me as much 
as to say, ‘ That’s none of your business.’ ” 

“ I hope to God I may never see him again ! ” cried 
her ladyship. 

“Wal, that’s a matter of taste. I should like his 
photo for the Journal. Ha! here we are at the hotel,” 
as the carriage drew up at the entrance. “ What a 
lucky thing it’s dark, for you look real ghastly.” 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


209 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Early the next morning Sir Richard sent word to 
Karava that his wife and Miss Shy had returned, and 
that they had no complaint to make as to the treat- 
ment they had received at the hands of Zaras Pasha, 
therefore it would be prudent to let the matter rest. 

Nelly Shy learned from Elsie that Lady Brattle had 
again occupied her own room, and that there had been 
no reconciliation between her mother and Sir Richard. 
So the American sought the Q. C. and said : “ Now, 
see here, I’m to blame for all that’s happened. Your 
wife had no more notion that we were going to visit 
the harem of her first husband than she had of meet- 
ing King Solomon. I planned the whole racket. I 
was with her the whole time, and if you’d seen the 
look of revulsion, abhorrence and contempt, with which 
she met the old rascal, you wouldn’t have much room 
for jealousy. Why, she utterly repudiated him ! Now, 
as for the secret about him and about Elsie, it’s just 
as safe with me as if it was written on papyrus and 
buried in one of the pyramids.” 

“ You’re very kind Miss Shy ; but I ” 

“ She knows all about that high old time of yours 
with Runa, she saw the whole fandango — but, I guess 
she’ll forgive that — she’s too thankful to get out of the 
clutches of that rollicking old Mormon. Why, in com- 
parison with him, you must seem like a saint — a re- 

14 


210 


IIIS EGYPTIAN WIFE . 


formed one, perhaps,” with a merry twinkle in her 
dark, bright eyes, “but be sure she’ll keep you re- 
formed in future.” 

Sir Richard thanked her for the generous impulse 
which had prompted this explanation, and the recon- 
ciliation with his wife followed in due course. 

Before nightfall Sir Richard and his family were 
comfortably domiciled at Shepherd’s Hotel, Cairo — 
where Sidney and Nelly Shy followed next day. And 
two days later they were on a P. & O. steamer home- 
ward bound, it having been arranged, in the meantime, 
that Sidney should leave Her Majesty’s service and 
claim his bride in the June following. 

Sir Richard took care never to mention the flaw in 
his wife’s divorce, and, like many a flaw in law, it was 
never discovered. 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


211 


CHAPTER THE LAST. 

A ROYAL GAME, IN WHICH THE LOSER WINS A 
QUESTIONABLE PRIZE. 

“ So they have gone ? ” 

“ Yes, sailed yesterday.” 

“ Dear me ! ” 

“ Did you come over to say good-bye ? ” 

“ No, no-o. I did not learn that you had all left 
Alexandria till this morning,” said Lord Lashburn. 

“ Been asleep ever since ? ” asked Nelly drily. 

“ No, no-o.” He twisted his moustache meditatively 
and then said : “ Deuced queer her ladyship didn’t 
leave any message for me, eh ? ” 

“ Not at all.” 

“ How so ? ” 

“ She heard of your affair with Ayros.” 

“ What beastly luck! Was she very much cut up? 
What did she say? ” 

“ Nothing to me. She’s absurdly straight-laced and 
severe about such trifles, you know.” 

“ Ya-as, ya-as. Now I comprehend her silence,” said 
his lordship reflectively. 

They were in a snug, secluded corner of the drawing- 
room of Shepherd’s Hotel, on the eve of Nelly’s depart- 
ure for Palestine. 

“ I’m sorry you’ve been disappointed in your jour- 
ney,” said Nelly, after a lengthy pause. 

“ Oh, I’m not exactly disappointed, you know.” 


212 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Didn’t you come to see — hem — Lady Brattle ? ” 

“ That was one object — but it’s perhaps fortunate, 
under the circumstances, I did not see her ladyship.” 

“And what was the other object? ” 

“To thank you for saving my life; for that beastly 
old barbarian, I am sure, meant to do for me.” 

“ Oh, I would never mention that if I were you. 1 
won’t.” 

“ But, Miss Shy — well, I had another object.” He 
was regarding her with a look of admiration which she 
could not mistake, while his voice betrayed his earnest- 
ness. 

“ That rubber at chess,” she said perversely. 

“Yes, that was one thing ; for you have gained two 
games to my one. Now I think I can equalize mat- 
ters.” 

“ I don’t think so, but get the pieces and we shall 
see.” 

Lord Lashburn procured the chess-men, and, as they 
proceeded with the game, he asked : 

“ How long do you remain here?” 

“ Leave for Jaffa in the morning.” 

“ Ah ! Why are you in such haste ? ” 

“ I’ve finished my business here.” 

“ Then if I don’t win to-night, I may never — hem — 
get the opportunity again ? ” 

“ No,” then she briskly exclaimed: “ Check !” 

“ That’s a premature ‘ check.’ I interpose the bishop. 
You play a reckless, dashing game, and I try to keep 
up with your pace ; that is how I came to lose the last 
we played at Alexandria.” 

“Well, take your time. Pawn to Rook’s fourth.” 

“ I mean to, and win. Not only the game, but ” 

abruptly checking himself. 


BIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


21 3 


“ What ? ” her dark eyes confusing him. 

“ Wait till we finish the game. I have already the 
advantage.” 

“ Check ! ” 

“ What with ? ” 

“ The knight.” 

“ Oh, yes, I see. Out of check.” 

After about a dozen rapid moves his lordship cried, 
triumphantly, “ Mate in three ? ” 

“ Mate ? Fiddlesticks ! ” 

“ Yes, I announce mate in three.” 

“ In three months, more likely ! ” derisively. 

“ That will suit me, if you will resign now.” 

“ What are you talking about ? ” 

“ About mating. Ah, Miss Shy, I adore you ! I — 
I simply regard you as the cleverest woman in the 
world. And I shall be honoured if you will become 
Lady Lashburn.” 

“ Now, see here,” said Nelly, “ I should get riled 
over this if I didn’t know the trial you’ve had the past 
week. That poison has evidently affected your brain.” 

“ No, it has not, Miss Shy. I had some feeling for 
you before that unfortunate ^episode. Now it is min- 
gled with gratitude. I believe it, — it is certainly uncon- 
querable admiration.” 

“ Wal, you don’t want to hitch on to a globe-trotter 
like me ? ” 

“ Yes, I do, your life is just such as would suit me.” 

“ It wouldn’t suit you long; besides, I’m a despot.” 

“Yes, it would, I’d resign my diplomatic post and — 
and go with you. Its infinite variety, coupled with 
your infinite charm, would give me something to live 
for. Novelty is the essence of life, and in you I find it 
personified,” 


214 - 


HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. 


“ Wal, I don’t intend to give up my profession. I 
love it too well.” 

Lashburn perceived by this remark she was con- 
sidering the matter. 

“ I think,” he said, taking her hand and tenderly 
caressing it, “ you had better consent to be my wife.” 

“ No,” she said rising, “ you haven’t had time to con- 
sider the matter. Think it over for three months, and 
then cable me.” 

“ But, goodness me, where will you be in three 
months ? ” 

Nelly calmly took out her route-book, consulted it for 
a few seconds, and tersely said : 

“ May first, care American Consul, Colombo.” 

“ If I cable there, you will ” 

“ Reply punctually. Good-night ! ” 

He timidly kissed her hand, thinking, as she glided 
out of the room, that she was the most dashing and 
brilliant woman he had ever encountered. The next 
morning when he came down to a late breakfast, he 
learned that she had gone. This rather discouraged 
him ; but, on May first, he sent her the following mes- 
sage to Colombo : — 


“ Still of the same opinion, 
mate ? 


Will you consent to 
“ Lashburn.” 


In twelve hours he had the following reply : 

“ Come on ! Will finish the game here. I wait your 
next move. 


“ Nelly Shy.” 


* < f 


AY 


THE END. 











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